Happy Halloween

Yeah...

That'll work.

Updated...

My self caricature...next time with smile.

And another...

Damn... what an amazing, unique talent he is.

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He still has it...

New(er) Weird Al:

I came across these

pictures of my apartment taken by Ken when I first moved in. I meant to post them, but must have forgotten. I must say I don't live in a palace, and it is far from glamorous, but I really think there is a very "comfortable" feel here...



Now for something completely different:

Most of you faithful readers (specifically of the male persuasion) have probably noticed a decline in my posting of babe pics. This is primarily out of respect for my girlfriend, and I will continue to honor that as much as I can. However, once in a while a picture pops up which demands attention.

Apparently...

it is possible to make something TOO good. As most of you faithful readers are aware, I work for a computer training firm. We have just worked a deal with one of our clients to handle all their outside training. We have put together a website explaining what we offer and allowing quick registration of courses. Today, one of our main competitors called this company complaining that because of the high quality and professionalism of the website, it offers us an unfair advantage over said competitor (who has a contract for INHOUSE training with the same company) and they are worried people will probably sign up for classes with us over them.

The first words out of the Sales Manager's mouth was kudos to me for putting together a website that intimidates our competitors! But seriously, as a businessman would you really call a company complaining about your competitors being too good? I can see the commercial now...

"Hi. My name is Lee Iococoa. I am appealing to you, the American Public, to not buy the Porsche 911 Carrera. We think it's unfair that a company such as Porsche would have the audacity to make a vehicle of such high quality and feel a product such as this gives Porsche an unfair advantage in the sports car market..."

Addendum: After reading a couple of comments (I LOVE THEM) it is obvious to me that because I was asked to be "general" in the specifics of the post that a couple of things are being slightly misconstrued:

I am company A, doing business with company B, and company C is the competitor who also has a business contract with company B. Apparently, the boss of company C called company B whining that company A's website (mine) was too good and demand we take it down...

So...

the results of the Friday night Poker Game? Great for me. I succeeded in shredding my monikor of "Almost" (as in "Almost in the money") by coming in 2nd. The prizes for the evening were split pot 60/40. I am very proud of my girlfriend Ygraine. She busted out early, but bought back in and took the chip lead, and for a while it looked like maybe her and I would come in 1 2. Alas, she finished 3rd. Not bad for a "never played before" rookie.

If we had finished 1 2, I don't think they would ever let us sit next to each other again...

In other news, this video is damn funny!

Friday night...

and "Almost" here is about to head into another Poker game. I am really excited. As much as I love performing, this well needed break is so far proving to be the right medicine for me.

So, I heard some pretty interesting news... One of my friends who I sort of lost touch with got divorced, and has since met a new girl. Things are going so well she is actually gonna move across the country to be with him. Nice. Here's the interesting part... the new girl not only has the same name as his ex-wife, but their birthdays are only 1 day apart! To my friend I say BRAVO!!!! Now that's planning!

With that double stroke of genius, you should be able to avoid two of the classic guy memory blunders: forgetting the girl's name in the throes of passion and forgetting her birthday.

Dear readers, I will update you with the cheers or the angst of this evening's tournament.

What in the?!!!!!

Check this:

ERIE, Pennsylvania - A woman used her 4-week-old baby as a weapon in a domestic dispute, swinging the infant through the air and striking her boyfriend with the child, authorities said.

The boy was in serious but stable condition Monday at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, police said.

“Never, never, never. I can never remember anything like this,” District Attorney Bradley Foulk told the Erie Times-News.

Chytoria Graham, 27, of Erie, was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and simple assault. She was held Monday in the Erie County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.

The infant, whose name was not released, suffered a fractured skull and some bleeding in the brain, authorities said. His head hit Graham’s boyfriend, the baby’s father, police Lt. Dan Spizarny said.

Authorities removed four other children from Graham’s home and placed them with the Erie County Office of Children and Youth, Foulk said.

This is just about the most appalling thing I have heard in a long time! What altered state of mind do you have to be in to be that callous? If this was her first child, somewhere in the deepest recesses of your mind you MIGHT be able to find a rationalization, but you would have to work real hard! This is worse than shaken infant syndrome and most other offenses involving child abuse. Debra LaFavre has sex with a student and has to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life! Can we at least make this woman infertile and keep her away from ALL children for the rest of hers?

Annoyance...

I gotta say my bank sometimes annoys the crap out of me! Now I know everyone has said that at least once about their bank, so this is not necessarily "blogworthy"...

I must preface this by saying I am more often than not satisfied with my bank and would recommend it's services to most people. I won't say the name here, as it isn't relevant to my current rant.

What I friggin' hate (and by the way, this can apply to my utility services such as cable tv, electricity, etc.) is when I become completely at the mercy of a computer. For example, with my bank I have two checking accounts, and to help me with the organizing and budgeting of my meager funds, I have setup automatic account transfers which move money from one account to another on a preset schedule. The problem lies in that the transfer is automatic, and if I don't have enough money in the account I will be hit with exhorbitant overdraft fees. Realizing this situation was about to happen (ahhh... life), I called my bank with a pre-emptive strike. "Can you simply skip the next transfer?" I ask.

The long and short of it is the customer service person can cancel the automatic transfer, but is not sure (60/40 she tells me) this will stop the immediate transfer scheduled for the next day. My logical response is: "OK, if that happens, can this simply be corrected without me having to be slapped with overdraft fees?"

Again, the basic answer is we are at the mercy of the computer. If it decides to apply an overdraft fee, I have to contact my branch directly and the manager can perform a "courtesy refund". Great, so not only am I at the whim of a computer which is using a program with apparently very little overriding capabilities (NICE programming!), but then I become the pawn of a Bank Manager who may or not have the appropriate level of caffeine/blood ratio required to keep him in a good mood and on my side.

Here is another example of the "at the mercy of the computer"...

Last weekend my checking account was running on the low side (nothing new), but I received my small stipend check for my acting gig. I deposit it on Saturday night, and if you look at the summary of my check register (online), my balance never drops into the negative. My bank has a deposit policy which says when you deposit a check, the first $100 is immediately available to you, the rest must wait until the end of the next business day (Monday night for a Saturday deposit). So, in need of a little cash, I take $75 out of what I deposit. Again, the check register online never shows a negative balance, yet by Tuesday I am hit with THREE overdraft fees because of the methodology/process by which the computer analyzes deposits and withdrawals. The customer service person simply said "It's not technically the bank's error, so you would have to have your branch manager reverse the charges via "courtesy refunds".

I understand and can relate to our dependence on computers, but when have we become so dependent we can no longer think outside the box? Overdraft fees make sense if the bank is basically paying your checks for you when the money isn't in your account. But why is there no room for the spirit of the law to override the letter of the law?

To expound on this, when things have been tight (financially), I have found myself occasionally faced with ugly decisions, some of which manifest in a letter saying basically "Pay up or lose it!" Again, If I call and say "I will take care of the payment on such and such date, and I will pay any additional late charges with may occur..." I have been typically met with "Well, if the computer schedules an interruption of service before your payment clears, then you are subject to re-connection fees." Again with the spirit of the law versus the letter of it. Now if late payments were the norm or if the customer didn't make any efforts, then the fees make sense. But customer service needs to be able to override a computer's "schedule" when necessary, if such means avoiding re-connection and late fees as warranted, not to mention interruption in services.

Oh by the way... the rain here in Sacramento? My fault... I washed my car on Friday. AARGH!!!