Very Occasional Thoughts

Picture Questions

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Fri, 25 Jan 08 22:09:00 UT

1) Answer the questions below
2) Take each answer and type it into Photobucket
3) Take a picture from the first page of results and post.
4) You can't copy the person's answers who posted this before you!

1. Your name:

2. Place you'd like to travel:

3. Favorite place:

4. Favorite drink:

5. Favorite animal:

6. Favorite color:

7. Name of significant other:

8. Favorite actor/actress:

9. Nickname:

10. First job:

11. A bad habit you have:

12. Worst fear:

13. Favorite TV show:

14. Music you're listening to:

15. What did you last eat:

Leading Man

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Sun, 13 Jan 08 16:28:00 UT

I got this from Jen's journal.

Your Score: Jimmy Stewart

You scored 7% Tough, 4% Roguish, 71% Friendly, and 19% Charming!

You are the fun and friendly boy next door, the classic nice guy who still manages to get the girl most of the time. You're every nice girl's dreamboat, open and kind, nutty and charming, even a little mischievous at times, but always a real stand up guy. You're dependable and forthright, and women are drawn to your reliability, even as they're dazzled by your sense of adventure and fun. You try to be tough when you need to be, and will gladly stand up for any damsel in distress, but you'd rather catch a girl with a little bit of flair. Your leading ladies include Jean Arthur and Donna Reed, those sweet girl-next-door types.

Find out what kind of classic dame you'd make by taking the
Classic Dames Test.

Political Quiz

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Sat, 5 Jan 08 23:04:00 UT

I'll be posting about my first week at work soon. Maybe. I suck at posting.

In the meantime...

81% John Edwards
78% Hillary Clinton
78% Barack Obama
73% Chris Dodd
73% Bill Richardson
68% Joe Biden
61% Mike Gravel
60% Dennis Kucinich
46% Rudy Giuliani
44% Tom Tancredo
43% Mitt Romney
37% John McCain
30% Fred Thompson
28% Mike Huckabee
18% Ron Paul

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

And now... 2008.

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Tue, 1 Jan 08 10:05:00 UT

Happy new year, everybody!

So, it's now 2008. Took long enough for it to roll around. To me, on many fronts, 2007 is going to be chalked up as a "lost year", one that I'll be happier to forget than to remember. Starting off with the death of my grandmother in January, and coupled with more deaths in our family and the families of friends, a frustrating job hunt that only recently bore fruit, and the slow recovery of my arm from a shoulder spasm last December (I've only been able to start doing push-ups again in the past month or so), I'm thrilled for 2007 to be in the books.

Don't get me wrong, there was good in the past year also. Watching Gabriel grow up from a 10-month old squirming baby to a 22-month old running, kinda-talking bundle of energy has been incredible, and living with Jen and Gabe in Wisconsin is wonderful.

But it's time for 2008 to start, and I swear to god, if it's anything like 2007 I'll be severely cheesed off.

So, on to other stuff.

Last night Jen and I just relaxed around the house while we let our new crock pot do all the cooking for us (bratwurst and sauerkraut - yum!). We watched the "To Catch a Predator" marathon on MSNBC, then finally got Gabe to go to sleep just after midnight. Not the most exciting Eve, but it was fun.

Tomorrow, I start my new job at Kohl's corporate headquarters. I'm a little nervous about this - it's been over a year since I've actually worked (I was doing consultant work since May, but working from home is way different than going somewhere to work). Not only do I have to train myself on a new computer program I've never used before, but I've also got to get myself back into the routine of waking up at 6:00 and getting out the door by 7:30 or so. And here I was, starting to get used to Gabriel waking me up in the mornings. Back to the old alarm clock for me. Bleh.

Right now, Gabriel's counting his blocks.

"Wuh, tuh, free, fo, fiy, sih, bobby, et, niy, teh."

We have no clue how "seven" became "bobby".

Yay, 2008!

Totally 80's Quiz

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Sat, 15 Dec 07 00:22:00 UT

Got this from Jen.

1. How old were you in 1980? I turned 5 in April of 1980.

2. How old were you in 1989? Turned 14 in April.

3. Were you a Toys R' Us kid? Oh, HELL yes.

4. Did you watch Transformers? Yep. And Voltron, and Masters of the Universe, and G.I. Joe, and...

5. Did you see E.T. on the big screen? Yep.

6. Did you own a Lite Bright? Sure did.

7. Who is your Favorite Golden Girl? Betty White.

8. When someone says "Who you gonna call?" Ghostbusters!

9. What was your favorite toy? I had these G.I. Joe phones with a 30-foot cord between them, and my brother and I used to string 'em around our living room and dining room. Because, you know, cordless phones weren't invented yet, and it was WAY too far to just yell. :)

10. Did you have a Pogo Ball? I don't think I ever had one, but I happily used to maim myself on my friends'.

11. Did you listen to New Kids on the Block? Heard them, but never sought them out to listen to.

12. What New Kid did you have a crush on? None.

13. Did you play M.A.S.H? Never played it. Watched it with my grandmother (who loved Radar), but never played it.

14. Did you watch The Care Bears? I've seen 'em a few times.

15. Did you have Jelly bracelets? Nope. That was girly stuff.

16. Did you have a charm necklace and/or bracelet? Nope. Girly!

17. Did you own a glo-worm? Nope. My son has one, though.

18. Did you ever own a slap bracelet? First, girly. Second, I watched a kid in my elementary school nearly put her eye out with one of those, and they just made me nervous.

19. The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles? Breakfast Club. "Could you describe the ruckus?"

20. Did you have a crazy hair style? Does "Chia Pet" count as a crazy hair style?

21. What was your first bike? Some big green thing. It was huge. Like a monster truck of the bike world.

22. Name one thing you still own from your childhood? Wow, I don't think there's anything I still own from then.

23. Did you have a Cabbage Patch Kid? My sister Ellen had one. It was named Sabina Julia (don't even ask me how I remember that), but it was later renamed to just "Julie".

24. Did you dress like Madonna? Wow, THAT would have made for some really awkward conversations at school.

25. Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake? Both were okay in my book.

26. Did you watch Miami Vice? Oddly enough, no.

27. Did you own a pair of Jelly Shoes? I don't even know what these are.

28. Did you own a Trapper Keeper? Yep. Loved that thing.

29. Atari or Nintendo? Atari 2600, baby!

30. Did you play Pac-Man? Yes.

31. Which was better JEM or Barbie and the Rockers? JEM.

32. He-Man or She-Ra? He-Man.

33. What movie scared you the most? "The Howling".

34. Did you try to dance like Michael Jackson? Who didn't back then?

Surprise!

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Thu, 6 Dec 07 11:27:00 UT

I was woken up this morning the normal way - I heard Gabriel babbling over the baby monitor that we have in his room. Normally, I let him do that for about five minutes, just to give myself enough time to fully wake up and give him the chance to change his mind and go back to sleep for a little longer.

Not this morning.

After a few minutes, I didn't hear his talking anymore, so I figured he just woke up temporarily then dozed off again. Nope. Definitely not the case - Gabriel was indeed wide awake.

And standing next to our bed.

Yep, our little gymnast has figured out that he can now climb over the railing of his crib and lower himself to the ground. Good for him, he came right in to see mommy and daddy instead of doing something far messier (playing in the cat's litter box comes to mind), but probably in the next few days we'll be changing out the side of his crib so that it's a toddler bed. It's easier for him to get out of, but if he can do it anyway, at least the risk of him falling from a greater height isn't there.

No more crib for our little guy. Man, he grew up fast.

Faster than a speeding idiot...

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Fri, 30 Nov 07 21:18:00 UT

I was in such a good mood after getting the job offer yesterday. I really was.

Today, we headed out to Jen's mom's house in Illinois. We almost made it. I mean, it's a three hour drive, and we went about two and a half hours with no issues.

Then, I apparently missed a sign saying the 55 mph highway we were driving on turned into a 30 mph zone because of a town, and I got busted by a cop for speeding. 53 mph in a 30 zone, and a $95 ticket because of it. Top it off with the fact that my license is still considered probationary since I haven't been driving for all that long and it made for a really crappy end of the day.

Well, THAT blew.

WOO-HOO!

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Thu, 29 Nov 07 22:19:00 UT

Finally, after close to a year of looking, I got a job!

This afternoon, I received a call from the corporate headquarters for Kohl's department stores, offering me a position as an HRIS Analyst. I've had three interviews with them so far (one on the phone, two face-to-face), and have felt guardedly good about this one... although I felt good about some of the other interviews I've been on, and they sure as hell didn't pan out.

But this one did.

I don't start right away. In fact, my orientation isn't until January 2nd, mostly because starting me just before the holidays means interrupted training time, and the manager's going to be on vacation the last week of December anyway. Granted, I'll have to go in before then for some pre-employment stuff, and having December to just relax for the holidays before starting a new year and a new job is nice.

Woot! Job!

Big Week Ahead

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Fri, 16 Nov 07 12:15:00 UT

Next week looks to be a busy one.

I got a call today from Kohl's, where I had the interview last week. They want me to come back in to their corporate headquarters on Monday to meet with their human resources team for a final interview regarding the HRIS Analyst position they have open. I thought the interview last time went pretty well, with my only concern being my lack of experience with the specific program that they use for their database. This time, I'll be meeting with the executive recruiter and the HRIS Manager (whom I met with last time), as well as the rest of the HRIS team.

The next day, we're all braving the holiday airports and flying out to Brooklyn to be with my family for Thanksgiving, and coming back on Friday. While I'm not exactly looking forward to the crush of travelers at the airports, I'm really excited about seeing my family again - it's nice to be living closer to them so we can visit (and be visited) more often.

Here goes nothing!

Fingers Crossed

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Tue, 6 Nov 07 12:01:00 UT

Looks like November is shaping up to be a somewhat exciting month.

First and foremost, happy birthday to my sister Ellen! Eat some cake and have fun today, sis.

Yesterday I had a phone interview with the corporate headquarters of Kohl's department stores, who are looking for an HRIS Analyst. Their national headquarters is in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, which is probably a 20-minute drive from here. I thought it went pretty well, and was told that they were looking at other candidates as well, and I should hear back in the next two weeks regarding whether or not they'd like to schedule a face to face interview. If I didn't hear back within two weeks, I could call them to see what the status of my application was.

They called me back this morning. This is a very good thing, since I absolutely hate waiting to hear on things like that. I've got an interview there on Thursday afternoon with both their executive recruiter and their HR manager.

God, I hope this works out. When we moved out here in December, I had wanted to be working again no later than the end of February. It's now early November, and while I've really enjoyed being at home and spending time with Jen and Gabriel, there's a certain twitchiness that sets in after a while.

Two weeks from today, we're all flying out to New York to visit my family for Thanksgiving. It's going to be a pretty big family affair. Me, Jen, Gabe, my parents, my sister Donna and maybe her future husband Matt (boy, that feels weird to type), my sister Ellen and maybe her boyfriend Brian, my brother John, his future wife Katie, and his soon-to-be-daughter Molly. Molly's a few months older than Gabriel is, and I can't wait for the two of them to meet. Gabe likes other people around his size.

When my parents visited here a few months back, my dad was walking around with a cane because of some disk issues in his back. I'm happy to say he's had surgery (on his neck, actually, which relieved the pressure all the way down his spine), and is back to his usual cartwheeling, skydiving, marathon-running self.

Okay, he's not that good - that would be some serious Six Million Dollar Man surgery involved for that. But he can walk around again without a cane, and he says the remnant pain is getting less and less by the day. Go dad!

Gabriel's growing by leaps and bounds, and his verbal skills are starting to come along, too. He's very demonstrative about what he wants - if there's something out of reach, he'll either push his highchair over to it and climb it like a ladder to get there, or grab one of us by the hand (or jacket or pants or whatever else is easily able to be grabbed) and walk us over to it. He shocked the heck out of me the other day when I asked him what he wanted, and he looked at me and clear as a bell said "My baba peez." It gave me chills.

Oh, and we may get snow flurries today.

That's it for now. I'll try and put up another entry with some sort of worth to it in about another month or so.

Maybe.

Twos

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Mon, 22 Oct 07 00:41:00 UT

Oh, please. You expected an entry with some sort of substance to it? Maybe later.

I got this from my wife's journal.

Two Names You Go By:
1. Robert
2. Daddy

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Flannel pajamas
2. My glasses

Two Things You Want in a Relationship:
1. Respect
2. Honesty

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:
1. Play with my son, Gabriel
2. Sleep

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. To find a job.
2. For Gabriel to go to sleep - it's almost 1am.

Two pets you had/have:
1. Sydney, a red male Abyssinian cat.
2. Jetlag, a parakeet.

Two things you did last night:
1. Got Chinese food.
2. Tried desperately to get Gabe to go to sleep before 1am. And failed.

Two things you ate today:
1. Bratwurst.
2. A cheeseburger from Burger King.

Two people you talked to last on the phone?
1. My sister, Ellen.
2. My dad.

Two Things You're doing tomorrow:
1. Waiting for the water heater repair guy.
2. Watching Heroes.

Two longest car rides:
1. Los Angeles to Reno, Nevada.
2. Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Halloween

Two favorite beverages:
1. Cherry Coke
2. Water

My, How He's Grown...

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Wed, 29 Aug 07 01:01:00 UT

Gabriel is growing up fast. We finally loaded the pictures from our camera onto the computer tonight, and I looked back at some old ones of Gabe compared to how he looks today.

For one thing... the kid's got a ton of hair. And it's blond. He sure didn't get that from me.

Then:

Now:

The Soundtack to My Life

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Tue, 14 Aug 07 00:17:00 UT

Got this from Jen.

---

If your life were a soundtrack, what would the music be?

Hereâs how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press play.
4. For every question, type the song thatâs playing.
5. New questionâ press the next button.
6. Donât lie and try to pretend youâre cool.

Opening Credits
"Cowboy" -- Kid Rock

Waking Up
"Mr. Brownstone" -- Guns N' Roses

First Day of School
"Epic" -- Faith No More

Falling in Love
"People are Strange" -- Echo and the Bunnymen

Breaking Up
"Electric Barberella" -- Duran Duran

Prom
"Excess" -- Tricky (Queen of the Damned soundtrack)

Lifeâs Okay
"Trip Like I Do" -- Crystal Method

Mental Breakdown
"Dragula" -- Rob Zombie

Driving
"Empire" -- Queensryche

Flashback
"Walk Like an Egyptian" -- The Bangels

Getting Back Together
"It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)" -- R.E.M.

Wedding
"Desert Rose" -- Sting

Birth of a Child
"Closer" -- Nine Inch Nails (okay, that's pretty fucked up)

Final Battle
"And This Is What The Devil Does" -- My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult

Death Scene
"After the Flesh" -- My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult

Funeral Song
"Juke Joint Jezebel" -- KMFDM

End Credits
"Hey Man, Nice Shot" -- Filter

50 Questions

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Wed, 8 Aug 07 13:21:00 UT

I got this from my wife.

1. Are you taller than your mom? Significantly.

2. What color is your shower curtain? Don't have one. Our shower is one of those that has the vaguely opaque glass doors on it.

3. What is the closest thing to you right now that is red? Gabriel's little stuffed Elmo chair.

4. What is your ring tone? The theme song to "Pokemon".

5. Does anything hurt on your body right now? My shoulder aches a bit.

6. What color is your favorite pillow? Blue. I miss my pillow. *snore*

7. What is your favorite video game? Old-school arcade Gauntlet.

8. Had a nap today? I'd love one, but no.

9. Gold or Silver? Silver.

10. Is there an animal that creeps you out? Dogs. Never quite liked dogs.

11. Who was the last person you rode an elevator with? Gabriel and Jen's mom, while we were visiting Jen in Madison.

12. Did you go ice skating as a kid? Occasionally. I remember that I was pretty good at going very fast in straight lines, was mediocre at turns, sucked at stopping, and was amazing at running into things and other people.

13. Ever have stitches? Yes - I think I had five in my head when I was a young kid. Bricks and foreheads do not mix.

14. Favorite non-alcoholic drink? Iced tea.

15. How long ago did you hug someone? About ten minutes ago. Gabriel ran up to me and climbed onto my lap.

16. What's something you want to do before you die? Watch Gabriel grow up.

17. Have you ever caught something on fire? Oh, HELL yes. I was a Boy Scout - pyromaniacs with uniforms.

18. Have you ever seen a ghost? If I did, I didn't realize it.

19. Have you ever seen northern lights? Only in pictures.

20. Do you know how to use chop sticks? Yep.

21. Name something good that happened today. I was typing this quiz and Gabriel ran up to me, said "Dada!", and climbed into my lap.

22. What room are you in? The living room.

23. Are you worried about something you can't control? Absolutely. Between job hunting, my dad's back (get better dad!), and a few other things, I'm a pretty anxious dude.

24. Do you take daily medications? Not really. I take the occasional Tylenol or Alleve for my shoulder or back, but no prescription drugs.

25. Ever been in a fight? Sure have. I lost.

26. Are you wearing nailpolish? Never have.

27. What time is it? 1:30 pm.

28. Innie or Outie? Innie!

29. Ever used a Ouija board? Once or twice.

30. Sweet or Sour? Both please.

31. Sun or Moon? Moon.

32. What shoes did you wear today? Seeing as how I'm just loafing around the house right now, I'm wearing slippers.

33. Favorite eye color of the opposite sex? Jen's. :)

36. Time of day you were born? I think it was at 2:10pm, Brooklyn time. Any family members out there that can confirm this? I kind of wasn't paying attention at the time.

37. Do you know your blood type? O positive.

38. Do you know how to kill a zombie? Aim for the head. Shoot. Keep shooting.

39. Do you smoke? Nope.

40. What would you spend 5,000 dollars on right now if you were handed it? If I had to spend it? A new computer. Otherwise, it'd go into savings.

41. Who is your favorite musical artist? Frank Sinatra.

42. Which animal(s) remind you of yourself? newyorkus robfuscatus, or the Southern Brooklyn City Ninja. Either that, or a gecko.

43. Whats your background on your pc? A vaguely obscene Garfield comic strip.

44. Did you grow up in the city or country? City! Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

45. Would you ever consider going on a reality tv show if offered a large sum of money? Depends on the show. Some of them suck.

46. Have you flown in your dreams? Yes.

47. Whats one thing you're really good at cooking? I can make some bad-ass fried rice from scratch.

48. Kisses or hugs? Yes please.

49. You have 10 dollars to spend in the dollar store..what do you get? Stock up on candy bars. You can sometimes find 'em three for a buck there.

50. Slurpee flavor? Blue. I know, I know, you're saying But Robert! Blue is a color, not a flavor! Nonsense. Try blue Slurpee one day. It tastes like Blue, and doesn't taste like any sort of flavor. Just... blue.

Home alone (with the baby)

LostInTheMists@gmail.com — Mon, 23 Jul 07 22:45:00 UT

Been a while, huh?

Jen is in Madison with her mom right now, taking the Wisconsin Bar Exam (kick its ass, sweetie!). That means I'm here at home with Gabriel from Sunday until Wednesday. A little father-son bonding time.

Gabe's gotten quite skilled at scaling the walls of his play area, so I've been letting him just walk around the house while I'm getting some cleaning done. Sometimes, it works nicely, like when he plopped down on the dining room floor and watched me in the kitchen while playing with a stuffed monkey for about half an hour. And sometimes, it doesn't - like when I turned my back for a second and he was splashing around in the cat's water bowl. Ah, kids.

I can tell that Gabe misses Jen. He wanders from room to room, poking his head in and going "Mama?" When she was leaving yesterday afternoon, he squirmed out of my arms out front and tried to follow the car up the driveway. He was all smiles when she was talking to him on the phone earlier. The little guy loves his mom.

Tomorrow, we're driving out to Madison to go see Jen for a little bit before she heads back here after her exams on Wednesday (actually, I'm driving - Gabriel just navigates). Should be a nice drive - Madison's only about 65 miles west of here, so it's maybe a little over an hour to get there.

On a personal note, I got the official notification in the mail today that I passed the test for my Professional in Human Resources certification. Got a nice certificate and a lapel pin - I'll probably frame the certificate. Now I just need someone to hire me and take advantage of all my newly acquired human resources braininess.

And now for something completely different - the reason I'm going to be about 20 pounds heavier now that I live in a place where they have at least one festival or fair every weekend over the summer. They don't call Milwaukee the "City of Festivals" for nothing. Yum. This one was about a mile from our apartment.