Anything Else

I hate bitching about money, and I feel uncomfortable leaving my last post at the top of the page for any longer than absolutely necessary. So let's see what I can come up with to push it down the page.

* Fall is definitely my favorite season (due mostly to the beginning of football season), but spring is a good one as well. The weather isn't consistently warm just yet, but there have been some really nice days here and there. There's nowhere better in the world than Bowling Green in the spring. One night last week Brandi and I took a nice long walk out to Doyt Perry Stadium, where we sat and talked for a while in the bleachers before walking back home. Also, I've been able to eat lunch outside two days in a row.

* I met up with Brandi and some of her friends at BW3 on Wednesday night after they got out of class. It happened to be karaoke night, which is generally a good time and, being in a college town full of music majors, probably better than karaoke at most other places. However, at least the early portion of this week's event was largely taken over by a family with a number of children who were allowed to sing. It was not a good scene, for a number of reasons. Sure, the restaurant side is separate from the bar side, but BW3 the bar atmosphere permeates the place, and it's just weird and vaguely wrong for kids to be there. Also, none of them could sing at all (and believe me, I have experience with people who can't sing, being, unfortunately, one of them myself). That's not a big deal in and of itself, as there are always people at karaoke who can't sing, and that's part of the fun. Some of these kids, though, didn't even seem to know the songs they were singing, mostly just mumbling into the microphone. Beyond that, the songs they chose (or that were chosen for them) seemed mildly inappropriate for kids their age. For instance, one kid (probably around 8) took the male part of the song "Pictures" by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow--which isn't the worst thing in the world, but it seemed a little strange to have a little kid sing the part of the guy with the drinking problem. On the bright side, we were only there for a little while, in which Brandi got to sing a couple of songs and absolutely brought the house down with one of them ("All That Jazz").

* Last week I had to give a presentation at work dealing with grammar and conventions for data entry. The idea was to cut down on the number of corrections I have to make, which create more work for the graphics department. I'm generally not very comfortable speaking in front of people (hence the reason I went into writing), so imagine my surprise when more people showed up for the meeting than I was expecting. I thought it went pretty well, though. I had prepared a detailed handout with all the topics I went over, including examples, and I basically just ran through that, making sure it was clear to everyone. There were a few questions throughout and at the end, and I left feeling like it had been a big help. Based on extremely early returns, though, not so much. Hopefully it'll get better as it has time to sink in and as I start to see more material created since the meeting took place.

* Most of our wedding invitations went out last weekend, with just a few still waiting for addresses. Included with each one was a pretty decent (I think so, anyway) map which was a real pain to create. Brandi and I spent most of our Friday night putting those together. Unlike the experience with my city tax return, the post office was extremely efficient in this case, as we're already starting to get RSVPs. While it shouldn't affect too many people on my side of the guest list, I'm a little concerned with how some people will react when they learn that children under 17 are not invited. I guess there has already been one freak-out in Brandi's family. In one respect, it would have been much easier if we could have included the kids, but due to limited space, that would have meant we would have left out other people. I just hope we can get through this part of the process with a minimum of hurt feelings.

* You know what drives me crazy? Animated advertisements that appear on top of a web page you're viewing, especially when the "Close" button (if there even is one) doesn't actually close the ad but just takes you to the site as if you had clicked on any other part of the ad. Whoever came up with this idea should be beaten severely and then set on fire.

* Seriously, the Reds traded Sean Casey for this? I've seen Dave Williams pitch twice now, and he has sucked out loud both times. It's such a disappointment to give up one of the team's best and most popular players in exchange for a pitcher who gets blown up whenever he takes the mound. I realize it was a cost-cutting move, as Williams makes $4-5 million less than Casey, but come on...you get what you pay for, right? If they didn't want to pay Casey (who was actually worth what he was making), they should have just released him as opposed to taking on this guy, who looks to be a liability rather than an asset. Hopefully they'll find someone else to take his next turn in the rotation.