As one door closes..

I officiailly put in my two weeks notice today.

I've worked here since I graduated from college back in 2004, so I think it's time to move on and see what other opportunities are out there.

The thing I'll miss the most about working here is definitely the fun people I've worked with.  Hopefully, everyone will still want to hang out and didn't see each other just because we all worked together.

Someone was saying the other day that it feels like the end of college, because everyone goes their own seperate ways and you don't really know what's going to happen.  In some ways, the company felt a lot like college, since everyone's young and, being a research company, we had a lot of different projects that we got to work on.

Also, like college, I don't feel that I learned a whole lot. The last few years could probably have been better spent working somewhere else.

I don't regret it, though, because I did get to meet some really good people and it was a good way to delay working for real.  But the fun is over, and it's time to join a company where results do matter and every minute wasted is a dollar gone.

It's time to enter the real world.

Hockey Game, etc.

I just got back from a Dallas Stars game.

The atmosphere was very different (i.e. much more subdued) from a basketball game. I guess I figured that all sports fans were the same and had the same amount of energy no matter the sport, but I was wrong.

All I knew about hockey going into the game came from watching The Mighty Ducks (yes, the classic Disney movie starring Emilio Estevez).

I know a lot more now:
1) Fights make the game a lot more interesting (esp. since there were only 6 goals scored, and that was considered a "high-scoring" night)
2) The Ice Girls alone are worth the price of admission.
3) There are no timeouts in hockey. (Go figure ).
4) Players just run on and off the rink whenever they want. They don't have to wait for a stoppage of play.
4) It's a much quieter atmosphere in general. In basketball, it seems they're always playing music. In hockey, they only play it after goals.

Oh, as for the 'etc.' in the title of this awesome blog entry, this past weekend there were two parties and I took defensive driving.

Defensive driving wasn't too bad. One of the girls (who was incredibly hot btw) took the same class with the same instructor three weeks previously and had known that she would be taking it again. You'd think there'd be some sort of rule against that.

I actually learned a few rules that I didn't know going into the class, so maybe it was worth spending a Saturday holed up in a Mexican restaurant. Rules like you can't pass or change lanes in a school zone and the suggested distance between you and the car in front is now 2 seconds instead of "one car length for every 10 mph." Oh, and the instructor told us all this stuff about alcohol which turned out to be mostly LIES - stuff like tolerance is a myth and everyone absorbs alcohol at the same rate no matter their weight or height.

The parties were fun, but not incredibly eventful (I only found about 30 pics on my camera, which I still need to upload). The one on Friday was literally in the middle of nowhere, and the one on Saturday was a hop, skip and jump away from my place. In both cases, I think I was the soberest one there (except for the people who weren't drinking). The scare tactics at defensive driving worked to some extent since I didn't drink nearly what I could have on Saturday.

St. Patty's Day

Just like last year, we started the day bright and early at 10am. 

We took the train down to the parade site, paid our money and started drinking right away ($10 for unlimited beer -- well, until the kegs ran out).

For awhile, it was only the three of us, but as the parade time approached, more people joined us.

I remember the parade being longer last year, but maybe that's just cause I was more drunk last year.

All in all, a great parade again (but less strip club floats, which was disappointing). We got fewer beads this year though, mainly because we had a group of fairly attractive young blonde women standing next to use who managed to get everything thrown at them (including silk panties).

After the parade, and an excruciating attempt to try to use any public restroom available (note to organizers: you're going to need more than 2 Port-A-Pottys for 200 people), we made what felt like a 10-mile trek through the desert (but was probably only like a mile or two down Greenville) to get to the next party.

None of us really knew what the "block party" was all about, and when we finally arrived, we found out that you had to pay a $5 cover to get in.  But that was IF you could even get in.  We were all pretty hungry by this point, so we decided to go eat instead of the block party. 

After walking all the way down to Lower Greenville, we turned around and walked almost all the way back to where we started!  Ugh.

Met up with some more people at the restaurant and reunited with people who had abandoned us earlier.  After we ate, most of us were exhausted -- it was 3pm, we had been up since 9am and had walked at least a couple miles -- but instead of calling it quits, we decided to go to the West End.

Lesson learned here: have a real destination instead of a vague general area.  We have no idea where to go once we get to the West End.  We wander around for a bit, and finally listen to this random homeless guy who tells us how to get to "the best place to drink" in the West End.  Um, it might be the best place, but it's also probably the most expensive.  We all spend a fortune there ($3 for a third-full glass of Red Bull???) and decide not to spend any more money on alcohol for the rest of the day.

Skip forward a few hours, and we're at this random Indian guy's party on Lower Greenville (gotta end the day on the same street as it started).  Pretty awkward because we don't know anyone. We try to make small talk with people but they duck out as quickly as possible.  It's a great view of the scene on Greenville and it's free alcohol so we stay anyway.

End up getting home around 2am-ish.  Fun day, but tiring.  Just like the Irish celebrate, I'm sure.

Best Waitress Ever?

Happy hour last night was very eh, but we did manage to get the best waitress ever to serve us.

First we had a guy as our waiter, and he was okay. But then she took over his shift, and damn. She memorized our orders, and made sure we had everything we needed the entire night. We never had to ask for anything. Splitting checks can be a nightmare, but she remembered what everyone had and only needed to ask us how to split appetizers and pitchers.

Since our group was pretty large, gratuity was already included on our checks, but I believe good service should be rewarded, so I added a little more.
~~~
I've been called a lot of names in my life, but I was called a 'jerk' recently. That name hurts a lot more than any of the others, mostly because I don't think it was deserved nor is it an accurate description of me.

Not just me?

I thought I was the only one who did this, but apparently not.

Stop reading right now and take a look at your desktop. How many things are you doing right now in addition to reading this column? Me, I've got a terminal session open to a chat room, I'm listening to music, I've got Safari open with three tabs open where I'm watching Blogshares, tinkering with a web site, and looking at weekend movie returns. Not done yet. I've got iChat open, ESPN.COM is downloading sports new trailers in the background, and I've got two notepads open where I'm capturing random thoughts for later integration into various to do lists. Oh yeah, I'm writing this column, as well.

Folks, this isn't multi-tasking. This is advanced case of Nerd Attention Deficiency Disorder. I am unable to function at my desktop unless I've got, at least, five things going on at the same time. If your count came close, you're probably afflicted, as well. Most excellent.

My list is a little different: definitely listening to music, have AIM open, as well as Gmail (where I'm writing this), and about 7 tabs open in Firefox. 

But the same general idea applies.

Friday Funnies

If you've never heard the song, here are the lyrics it's referring to:

This is why I'm hot (by MIMS)
I'm hot cuz I'm fly
You ain't cuz you not
This is why
This is why
This is why I'm hot

Party like it's 2007

I hosted my first party at the apartment last night, and a few lessons were learned:

1) Never invite more people than you can reasonably handle/fit in your apartment.
2) Power hour is an evil, terrible game and should only be played when you haven't had anything to drink and have a full stomach.
3) McCormack's is disgusting and shouldn't be used for number 2.
4) Don't pass out when your guests are still there.
5) You can measure the success of a party by the number of people who crash there. Last night: 3.
6) I way overestimated the amount of alcohol and snacks needed.
7) Never host another party.

Oh, and the whole 'party like it's 2007', that's a bad idea.  I hope other 2007 parties don't end the same way for me.

Speeding

I've had a driver's license since I was 16 or 17, and had never even been pulled over until this morning.

You'd think that the first time you get pulled over the cop would be nice enough to just let you off with a warning.

But no. He had to give me a fucking ticket.

What a great way to start the day.