Notival

Yesterday was actual Halloween day. The company for which I work had a lunchtime party at the office in Addison. The email flyer said there would be prizes for the best costume, best pumpkin desserts, and a pumpkin seed spitting contest.

It was an excuse to not work most of the day, so I went. Dressed as a Stonecutter, since that is the easiest costume I have, and was able to put it on over my work clothes.

The lunch was alright. Only one other person was actually dressed up, so we split the $100 prize. For the seed spitting competition, we did it in the office, on the carpet. I got a really good bounce and roll off of my third attempt and it landed just over 26 feet from the start line. I won by about 4 feet. that was another $25.

So, not only did I only work about 2 hours yesterday, but get paid for the whole day, but I also pocketed an extra $75 thanks to my leet Halloween skillz.

boo-ya.

So, the Squid and I went into a house, a trailer house, I think. And there were some guys in there. Perhaps drug dealers, perhaps simply burglars. Either way, they had guns. The Squid hid, and I wrestled one of the guys for his gun. The other guy shot at us, I shot back at him. We emptied both guns, and completly missed each other. I attribute my bad shooting to having to struggle with the other guy in the process. And Im not sure exactly what kind of gun it was, but it looked exactly like the gun used by Tony P (of the Disco Boys) in Mystery Men.

When the shooting was done, the Squid and I stayed a few minutes, but decided to wait next door in my mom's house until the cops arrived. And when they did, Zero was with them. He wasn't actually with the cops, just happened to be hanging out when they arrived. And so I started telling them what had gone down. While Im giving my statement, I realized it has a whole lot of 'and then' type stuff, and that I can't explain some of the transitions from point A to point B, and it kinda makes my whole story seem shaky.

Later, Im telling Ninsi about the whole thing. We're standing in the house, and I can see where it went down. There is still the evidence of the buglary/shootout, but at the same time, I understand that it all was a dream. So about then I started getting confused about how I could have a dream that ransacked the real world place, but the events of which never really happened.

Then I woke up.

Was out in the back yard today. Checking out the fence before tearing it down later. And doing a general yard survey, when I see, in the middle of the yard, a dead cat. I do not have any idea how long it was there. It did not have a collar, so I am assuming it wasn't a pet. But I do think that it probably wandered into the yard, and was summarily taken out by the dogs.

I thought better of posting a pic.

Most of the wood for the fence is now at the house. We made two trips to home depot on Saturday to fetch it. We calculated that we were going to need about 240 planks for the actual fence. When we got to the store, we realized that was exactly one full pallet. But they didnt have a full one in reach, and a full one wouldn't fit in Khuul's truck anyway. So we made the two trips and got everythign but 70 planks. More than enough to get started. On Friday, i will take down the panels and Saturday will be spent pulling up the old posts. Good times.

I will not be posting a picture of the dead cat. It has been roughly 20 years since the last dead cat picture. I think Im still withing the statute.

Went to lunch Monday with a couple friends from work. We went down around the Six Flags area. Upon exiting 360, heading towards Six Flags drive, there is a gas station on the right corner before the light. A woman was walking across the road right in front of us from that station. She looked at us driving towards her and I think said some nasty things our way because she was of course well within her rights to be walking across a busy street and who were we to come bearing down on her? Anyway, she walked to the 18-wheeler in the middle lane and hopped on in.

Lot Lizard. Maybe not, but it was more fun to think she was. She definately had the ridden hard, put up wet, look. It was possible that she was just getting a ride, or had gone to the bathroom or something.

Then on Tuesday, I had to run to the bank, and went to the one that took my by that same intersection again. The woman was back. Standing around the gas station parking lot. Waiting.

Definate Lot Lizard.

I have to redo my blog soon. It doesn't look right in any browser with tabs. ie, Mozzila or IE.

Anyway, it's Friday. Yea.
I start fence work this evening, I think.

In the meantime, Ive been surfing. I have found something about which I do not know what to say. It's a banana thing, and they are sold out of many colors. I can't imagine people are buying them soley for the banana protection. But then, it is British, so who knows.

Im also severely conflicted by this. I mean, the item itself I have dont like. But it is made of titanium in this case, and that lends it that special something that can only be called 'nifty.'

Also, war machines for very little people.

Seriously need to get back to work now.

The fence is done. It has not yet been dog proofed, but the fence itself is complete. Saturday went quite smoothly. My method of uprooting the fence posts went better than expected, such that Donut and I were able to pull out all but five posts and replant new ones in just a few hours. We were done by 2:30, and that included making a trip to Home Depot. My post removal method was so good, I need to check to see if there isnt already someone with a patent on the idea, and if not, I should get one.

Sunday did not go as well. Donut's air compressor failed before we put up half the rails. And hadn't even started the slats themselves. So we had to locate a new compressor and go get it. And also go to Home Depot to buy the rest of the necessary slats. It cost us about two hours so that it was 5 o'clock before we finished. And that did not leave us enough daylight to get the boards we need to do the dog-proofing.

That should be easy enough to do, though, and I hope we can knock it out early Saturday morning.

I may post pictures later.

Spent the evening at the hippodrome last night. It's Quarterhorse racing season. Ninsi had some tickets for work for one of the upper lounge decks, so we were up there. They have a little tv at each table and there's a dude walking around to take bets for you so you never have to get up.

I think it is more fun on the lower levels. But that may just be because there were not a lot of people there last night. It was fairly chilly, which I suspect kept people home.

I learned that I dont like quarterhorse racing nearly as much as the thoroughbred racing though. The races last night were too quick. Mostly just over 300 yards. That doesn't give a lot of time for the horses to really put together a run. A lot of the time it was just a matter of which horse came out of the gate the best. So it was hard for me to pick them. The only race I actually one anything on was the one race that was a little longer.

Ill stick to thoroughbreds from now on, I think.

Your stranger than fiction story of the day...
lulu the cow

I dont know how 25 firefighters all fit around one cow though.

Thanksgiving is upon us. And I hate Best Buy.
42" Plasma TV for $999.99 after the $600 instant rebate. That's wicked cheap. They have 5 in each store for that price. But you have to camp out all night to get it. Fuckers.

Really hate the holiday season because of crap like that.

Oh, and the $299 Xbox 360.

Thanksgiving = done

The most interesting bit over the weekend, would be that I have a new nephew, as of Halloween. I had no idea he was on the way. Instant nephew. Didnt even have to add water.

Mostly, the weekend was good. Had some turkey, saw the fam, did some shopping with the Squid. Also saw "Happy Feet." It was pretty good.

Sunday, we left the hotel to go find some lunch before it was time to leave, and we thought we'd try to find a Ron's. They are usually closed on Sunday, so hopes were not high. But there was one very near to our hotel, so we went to it, and drove up at 11:01. There was a large sign hanging outside the Rons that said "Now open on Sundays, 11-3." It was a good portent, I think. That the one Rons closest to us, happened to be the only Rons in the city that was open on Sunday. And early enough for us to dine.

Good times. Indeed.

Tomorrow it is supposed to get cold. Finally. The high is expected to be 38 degrees, and the forecast calls for a 'wintry mix.' That is going to last all of one day. Then the temperature rises back up into the high forties and fifties again. We're long overdue for a bout coldness. It is two days until December. It shouldn't be 75 degrees still. Businesses should not still be running the air conditioning. It has been fairly muggy at the house the past few days. The nice weather outside has kept the air from kicking on in the house, so it has just become stale. It should get cold enough tonight for the heater to start up, which will get things moving again.

This weekend, I clean the hot tub. and then put on the new hot tub cover. Just in time for the winter.