| Monthly update |
[May. 11th, 2009|08:11 am] |
Looking back over LJ, noticed I haven't updated for at least a month. Since the last update I have finished my class on CS4 Illustrator, got the company I work for to pay for the course as well as they are willing to pay for the next couple of classes will will earn me a Graphics and Animation Certificate. The next class I'll be taking I think will be the Introduction to Flash. Get to learn about making animation and tieing those clips to websites. The course is another 6 week course with 12 lessons, starts next week and the Sales and Marketing person has already agreed to have the company pay for it as well.. Work has been more stressful than it should, mainly because we are putting a new comprehensive product catalogue and the person in charge of it has been having me do revisions, proofing, designing new labels for all the products, getting the labels printed. I also have had to do the usual designing of new labels for potential customers and keeping up the revisions on the current list of customers. We are looking to bring on a new laser printer/duplicator so we can do more of the labels in-house for faster turn-around. Currently whenever a customer approves their finished label, I send it out to be printed which takes about 5 business days after I have approved the final design layout. With the new laser printer I would be able to send it directly to the printer and have the requested number needed printed and trimmed. We had been looking it a printer like the one one of our label suppliers has and when we finally make the decision to buy, I'm told that model is no longer available, but here's one that will do the job just as good. However the warm colors are somewhat muddy. So I'm roughly starting over on the purchase. Of course the bosses are wanting to know why it is taking me so long when the truth is if they had acted back in January/February when I first had the printer rep make his presentation we would have the machine I wanted. Been putting in 40+ hour weeks.
On the family front, with my mother's death, my younger sister has became more of a "princess". She and my brother who happens to be my parents executor went to my uncle who owned half of the business I used to work for and complained how I had embezzled from the company, cooked the books to hide the fact and am trying to steal even more money from the company by claiming I had an agreement with my parents which I forced them into. The result of which was my uncle calling me up, blessing me out, demanding I return the company car I was driving and not willing to listen to anything I said in defense. Over the few days which followed he calmed down, apologized and actually listened to my side. He has since called an apologized even more, especially after my brother called him up demanding money from the company to pay off some of our parents bills. My uncle has told me that he will very disappointed in they way my brother and younger sister have treated me and that he will make sure in his will that I receive what should have been due me from my parents' estate. My brother has told me I have to get the mortgage for the house I have in NC switched from my parents to my name even though my parents assured me it would be paid for and deeded to me. So I'm working on that. I have had to get a new car.
The past weekend I went to my first Renaissance Faire in Fairburn, GA. Huffdaddy atl, D!, Altversaguy, Sprakles McGlitter and myself all went down on Mother's Day. Had fun, Huffdaddyatl, D! and myself bought return tickets for this next weekend (Scots and Kilts weekend). I hope we go on Saturday so I can take Sunday to re-coop. Got up Sunday morning at 6am to drive to D! and Huffdaddyatl's house in East Point. Then all of us went to breakfast and heading to the festival. Had about an hour to kill before gates opened. Had fun looking at all the ren faire themed crafts, many of which I can do or know where to purchase the products. Who knows, maybe I'll start doing the ren circuit. The faire is here in Georgia for about 2 months, only weekends, but the crafts would have to be appropriate as well I would have to dress in costume.
To help make with the budget I'll most likely have to move, so this week I'm going to start looking for someplace closer to work. I choose Acworth because it was about half way between work and the perimeter, thinking I would be heading to Atlanta more than I have. Since it looks like I will most likely only head to Atlanta on the weekends, I going to try to find someplace closer to work, hopefully a lot cheaper to offset the extra monies I'm going to have to lay out each month. Still have the option of suing the company I used to work for for the money they still owe me, which I could very easily pay-off the house, or pay-off the car and still have money left over to put in the bank. But I'm rather hesitate about suing my parents' estate as well as my uncle. Even if I received all the remaining money owed on the purchase I would still lose several thousand dollars. |
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| Taken from Audiodubliner |
[Apr. 6th, 2009|02:19 pm] |
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40 Secrets about yourself.
Be honest no matter what.
[one] Have you ever been asked out before?
Yes, usually when I was in a quasi-relationship and couldn’t accept.
[two] Where was your LJ profile picture taken?
Drew it so I could have a business logo.
[three] What's your middle name?
Ray
[four] Your current relationship status?
Complicated, the guy I’m involved with is currently married but his marriage has been on the rocks for several years and they are only together until the youngest is out of school. [five] Does your crush like you back?
I think so [six] What is your current mood?
Blah [seven] What color of underwear are you wearing?
White, briefs [eight] What color shirt are you wearing?
Deep red [nine] Missing something?
My foreskin [ten] If you could go back in time and change something, what would you change?
Depending on how far back and if it could just be changing something about me or change for someone else. If it was only in the past 25 years, I would take my guaranteed student loan and invest in either AOL, Intel or Microsoft. If it was my life, going back to keep my foreskin. [eleven] If you must be an animal for one day, what would you be?
Hawk, polar bear or dolphin [twelve] Ever had a near death experience?
Most likely [thirteen] Something you do a lot?
Starting a business
[fourteen] The song stuck in your head?
Nothing at the moment
[fifteen] Who did you copy and paste this from?
Tomas
[sixteen] Name someone who has the same birthday as you.
My aunt same day, My father was one day before, my sweetie’s youngest son is one day later.
[seventeen] When was the last time you cried?
On Saturday (04.04) during my mother’s funereal. [eighteen] Have you ever sang in front of a large audience?
No [nineteen] If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Being able to change shape [twenty] What’s the first thing you notice about the preferred sex?
Usually their face is they are facing me.
[twenty-one] What do you usually order from Starbucks?
Usually don’t go to Starbucks but the last time was an grande Hot Chocolate
[twenty-two] What's your biggest secret?
I’m not as confident as some think I am
[twenty-three] Favorite color?
Blue [twenty-four] Do you still watch kiddie shows or tv shows?
I have Avatar, the Last Air-Bender on DVD along with Animanics and Looney Tune collection [twenty-five] What is a line from one of your favorite songs?
"I’m God’s own drunk and a fearless man" - Jimmy Buffett’s God’s own Drunk [twenty-six] What are you?
Right now, a little bored [twenty-seven] Do you speak any other language?
A little Spanish and a little ASL [twenty-eight] What's your favorite smell?
cedar, cinnamon, cloves, cut grass [twenty-nine] Describe your life in one word what would it be?
Uneventful [thirty] What is one thing you would like to learn how to do?
Would like to learn to turn wood, get better at working with molten glass, goldsmithing [thirty-one] Have you ever kissed in the rain?
Yes [thirty-two] What are you thinking about right now?
He guy who kissed me in the rain and the rest of the evening [thirty-three] What should you be doing?
Moving items I have in storage from the building to my house in NC [thirty-four] Who was the last person to make you upset/angry?
My younger sister over money that is owed to me from a company I used to work for and she has the ability to write checks on the account. [thirty-five] How often do you talk to God?
Almost every night I proclaim my love for the man in my life and ask that the universe protect him. [thirty-six] Do you like working in the yard?
Sometimes [thirty-seven] If you could have any name in the world, what would you want?
Alan, but I would change the spelling of my name to Daffydd Allynne (Welsh) [thirty-eight] Do you act differently around the person you like?
I do change to being more touchy feely and a little giddy [thirty-nine] What is your natural hair color?
Dark brown [forty] Who was the last person to make you smile?
Lynne
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| Taken from Audiodubliner who stole it from Chronicpaint |
[Feb. 6th, 2009|10:22 am] |
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(1) Is there anyone on your friends list you would have sex with??
Yes (2) Sex in the morning,? afternoon or night??
Yes (3) Have you ever had to pull over on the side of the road to puke??
Yes, but I wasn’t the puker, my adopted brother was shit-faced drunk and I had to pull over so he could drive the bus. (4) Have you ever taken your clothes off for money??
No (5) Shower or bath while having sex?
I’ve done both. But I’d much rather more room so either the bed or floor.
(6) Do you want someone aggressive or passive in bed?
Aggressive
(7) Do you like someone in your friends list?
Yes (8) Love or Money?
Why not both? (9) Credit card or cash?
Credit cards for the thank you points (10) Have you ever wanted a best friend?
I’m lucky in that I have 4 people who I would consider BFs. Huffdaddyatl, my adopted brother, Lynn and Alan (11) Camping or a 5 star hotel?
5 star hotel
(12) Where is the weirdest place you have had sex?
Most likely either work or at one guy’s house while his wife was asleep in the next room.
(13) Would you shave your entire body (Including your head)???
Would be a long shave, and real itchy when it started to grow back. (14) Have you ever been to a strip club??
Yes both male and female.
(15) Ever been to a bar?
Yes, worked in one for over a year as doorman, bouncer and back-up bar tender. Still work for charity and occasionally go out.
(16) Ever been kicked out of a bar or a club?
No.
(17) Ever been so drunk someone else had to carry you?
No, but I’ve had to carry plenty of other people who were drunk.
(18) Had sex in a movie theater?
No, not even an adult movie theater.
(19) Had sex in a bathroom?
Yes, the guy was REALLY hot .
(20) Have you ever had sex at work?
Yes, with several different people over the years. Some were employees, some were friends who had stopped by to see me after work, others were men who did work for the company but were not employees like the uncut daddy mechanic who stills likes to get together for a quickee.
(21) Ever been to an adult store?
Yes, I worked in a semi-adult store for over a year and was slated to manager one but it never got zoning approval.
(22) Bought something from an adult store?
Most of the time I’ll buy things for friends as either real gifts or gag gifts.
(23) Have you been caught having sex?
Almost got caught by my mother blowing one of my friends at work. (24) Does anyone have naughty pics of you?
No. (25) Ever had sex with someone and called them by the wrong name?
Close, but when I can’t remember their name they cum when I call them "Daddy".
(26) Who do you think has the guts to repost this?
Don’t know most likely most.
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| IT'S "DRAW A DINOSAUR DAY" |
[Jan. 30th, 2009|08:23 am] |
"I can make a hat, a brooch, a pterodactyl!"
I know it's lame but I'm getting ready to head back to NC for the weekend. Sort of a zen-dinosaur. Well Happy Draw-A-Dinsoaur Day everyone. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 14th, 2009|07:29 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | The Office in Georgia | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pensive | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Ray Charles, Tim McGraw, Cyndi Lauper, Bryan Ferry, Dolly Parton, Gary Allen | ] |
Tried calling Lynn yesterday, I had a call from his brother, Steve, Monday night to let me know that Lynn had past out of his couch and was in no position to drive back to Ramseur. Lynn fell off the wagon big time last month and I've been trying ot get him to get help for his alcoholism but he has tons of excuses. Well yesterday he committed himself to a 28-day program for substance abuse, and I hope he'll take this time to re-evaluate his life and its relationship with alcohol. I talked with Steve for almost an hour last night and we talked about Lynn's relationship with everyone, as well as the home situation for Lynn. Lynn hates seeing anyone upset with someone else, over Christmas, Steve and their father got into an argument over politics This upset Lynn and when he was driving back to Ramseur from Steve's place in Greensboro he drank most of a bottle of vodka. I was able to get him to pull-over and I went to collect him and we talked maybe 2 hours while he processed some of the alcohol. He told me he couldn't stand having his brother and father mad at each other and the effect on his mother. I finally got him to think about how upset his mother will be when she learns he got drunk again and how upset she'll be at that. I finally was able to get him to agree to start going back to AA. He went once when I was in NC but after that he always some excuse for missing the other meetings.
This last trigger was taking Trent back to Appalachian State on Sunday. Trent had been home for almost a month and Lynn was sad to see him go back to college. Trent had talked about how much he'll miss being at home and around his old schoolmates and Lynn called me late Sunday night after returning from App. I talked with Trent about maybe looking into transferring to UNC-G and he could stay at home and commute back and forth but he has started making some friends at App and discovered he loves snowboarding. I told Steve I would talk to Trent about everything and will need to call him tonight. I told Trent to stay at App that he needs to try not to worry, to focus on starting the semester.
I was planning on driving back to NC this weekend but right now I'm not sure, I told Steve I wanted Lynn to get better and right now the best place for him is in recovery away from everyone so he can get better. After his month hopefully he'll realize he can not drink anything, he needs to attend his AA meetings every night, at least for several months, and get clear headed about what he wants and what he needs. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 6th, 2009|09:24 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Linda Ronstadt, Kathy Mattea & Jackson Browne, Jo-El Sonnier, Roy Orbison | ] |
Getting back into the work thing from a REALLY bad holiday season. On the 19th of December my father died of congestive heart failure, he was in the hospital trying to get him to lose 35 lbs of fluid weight. We buried him on the 22nd. The grave side service was full military and was nicely done. I had one friend tell me he needed to show the honor gaurd from where he lived so they would how a military service should be done. On Christmas Eve we had to admit my mother for anxiety to the hospital, but she was released on Christmas Day. After getting my mother back into her house, I received a call from a good friend who had a big fright with his brother and had drank about a fifth of vodka, so I went and stayed with him until he sobered some. Then I got him home and got him to agree to start going back to AA which he has, tonight will be starting his 2nd week.
On New Year's Eve, Roger came by and installed new plugs into the car. I had a Check Engine light on and when accelerating it would flash. Roger told me it was a misfire. Took the car over to the dealership and they checked the codes and told me I needed a Coil Pack, a new transmission and my water pump was leaking. When Roger was installing the spark-plugs he checked the Coil Pack and told me it looked good, hardly any wear on it after 98,000 miles. Had 2 plugs which were fouled and when he checked the radiator cap, he discovered the gaskets were where I was losing the coolant not the water pump. I had the codes cleared and drove back to GA without any problems. I'm back to getting 28 MPG on the open road. Haven't decided what if anything I'll do about the dealership. I told them what the problems were but because I'm not a "trained tech" I must be wrong, just because I know when the problem started and when it acts up.
Finally got all but Julian's and Martha's presents delivered. I'll most likely take them down when I back in NC, that way I can pick-up the present he has for me. Martha told me she wanted me to decorate Julian's new house in Pine Bluff. Actually drove back from NC on New Year's Day. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 15th, 2008|12:37 pm] |
Left for NC around 9:30 last Friday (12.12), dad was admitted to the hospital on the 10th to reduce the amount of fluid he had in his body. The doctors would like for him to shed about 35 pounds of water and gave him a group of drugs to help him along and he had an adverse reaction to the combination. I had enough hours for the week and so I left to see how he was doing and to hopeful get several things written down if things don't work out. When I went to work for him and mom I was told the company would be for my retirement and after a few years their share of the company would be signed over to me. When we sold the company Fall of '07, he told me that the monthly payments would be mine and when the building was sold, my house would be paid for. Since none of this was written down of course know he is saying that he needs to share the proceeds with the rest of the family members since they had all worked there at some point. Most of the family members only worked there temporarily when we were in a bind and they were paid for their work. I was always promised that one day the company would be mine, which of course I stupidly believed.
Any way I drove straight from Acworth to the hospital to see him. I told him I would go by the office and write checks for my mother to sign to pay various bills, as well as write the check for my uncle to pay him his share of the sale of the company for December. I had to go through and pull the payments for all the utilities and insurances from August to date, add them, divide by half and add the several months of cell service. Then divide the total owed by my uncle in half and subtract from the monthly payment. Did all that and drove the checks over to my parents for my mother to sign. Last month she was in the hospital for her heart, when she was performing a stress test at a doctor's office across from the hospital, she suffered a heart attack and they admitted her the week before Thanksgiving. Since then she has been getting worse and she has decided to go ahead and have the heart surgery to replace to valves and put in 3 to 5 stints. She is going to the doctors this morning and she may have the surgery as soon as this evening. I told dad he had to get better so they could have the room for mom's recovery. I went by the hospital yesterday before I left to come back to Georgia and will work this week before heading back to NC for the Christmas break.
After returning form NC I started going through wrapping presents and writing down the list of gifts trying to decide how many I needed to still make, as well as buy. Have almost the entrie list done just need to decide on what to get my parents. I think I'll get them both new slippers, and maybe mom a new warm robe and some new pillows or a new pair of sweats and a hoodie for my father. Have a few more that I have no idea what to get them but I'm sure I'll figure something out. Most of the presents have already been purchased or constructed. I had forgot I had purchased several at the wholesale jewelry show in July and "found" them in the pantry while I was moving a few other presents out. I've already sent a few packages off and will deliver a few more before leaving this Sunday. |
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| Current Meme - ganked from london_bill |
[Dec. 11th, 2008|08:12 am] |
* Grab the book closest to you. Now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th and 6th sentence.
* Write these sentences as your comment here.
* Copy these instructions and post to your Livejournal.
* Don't go looking for your favourite book, or the coolest one you have - just grab the closest one. |
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| Update |
[Dec. 8th, 2008|08:56 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Jimmy Buffett, Jethro Tull, Hank Williams Jr., Grateful Dead, KT Oslin | ] |
Right before I left work for Thanksgiving (thursday before thanksgiving - 11.20) my younger sister called to tell me my mother was in the hospital. Seems the day before, she was at the doctor's office and they were running some tests on her heart when she had a heart attack, 20 hours later my younger sister decided to call and tell me. When she called the doctor had scheduled more tests to find the extent of the heart damage. I left work around 10:15 and drove back to the condo to load up dirty clothes and started towards NC. Along the way I get a phone call from work and I talk them through printing an envelope. Takes about an hour and 2 people to get the job done that I could have had finished in 30 to 45 seconds. After I got to NC, I talked with my younger sister and she and my father were headed back to Ramseur from the hospital so I told them I would meet them at their house. I got to my parents' house around 5pm. My father and younger sister had gotten there and they had finished dinner. My younger sister called the hospital to find out the results of the test, my mother answered the phone and the nurses were just arriving to take her to perform the tests. Seems mom went to the doctor to find out why she was getting so tired and out-of-breath so often. The results reviewed she has several blockages around the heart vessels and one of her heart vessels isn't working properly.
After almost a full week in the hospital, numerous tests, and bad hospital food, mom was released. One of the tests had dye injected into mom to study the blood flow around the various heart vessels. Well the dye the hospital gave her was too strong and her kidneys wasn't able to handle the purifying of the blood situated with the dye. Seems they didn't take into consideration that since mom is a Type-II diabetic, her kidneys may not in the best shape. On Monday (11.24) the family had a meeting with the cardo doctor. During the question-and-answer segment I asked how long would it take mom to recover from the heart surgery and he said about 6 months. If mom had the surgery both she and dad would most likely have to have a day nurse to help them do the daily routine until my younger sister came home from work. The cardo doctor said he didn't want to operate to fix mom's heart until she had her breast cancer operated on. The oncologist said he didn't want to operate until mom's heart was fixed and her kidneys were better. The oncologist said mom could have 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years without surgery. Mom has always been very adamant about nut being "whittled" away with repeated surgeries, she didn't want to be "burned" with the radiation or "poisoned" with the chemo, and that it seems the the minute you perform cancer surgery, the cancer invades another system. Mom has always said that the quality of life is more important than the quantity of life. So it is now a waiting game. She has passed the "2 days" and is almost at the "2 weeks" mark.
Over the weekend (12.06-12.07) we had the 2008 Miss Ruck-n-Maul contest. Seven rugby players doing drag for charity. The Bucks raised from just the tips over $7200 for Jerusalem House in Atlanta, and we most likely raise $2000 the night of the event from door sales and raffle tickets. After the show, Huffdaddyatl, D!, Atlversaguy, DJ Sean Mac, myself and another David went to Las Margaritas for dinner. Got home a little before 11pm and didn't leave the condo until this morning when I left for work.
I've got 6 more days of vacation I have to use before the end of the year so I'm planning on taking the 3 days before Christmas and then 3 days before New Year's so I'll have 2 weeks off from work. I'll also not have used my Sick Days so I should get an additional week of pay as a bonus. A lot has changed this past year with work. I don't have keys to the building so I can't be the first nor last there like when I worked for mom and dad. I'm encouraged to take my vacation and I now have Life insurance, Long and Short-term Disability insurances. I've been told that soon I'll have an option for a retirement plan as well. For the mosat part I am only wearing one major hat instead of doing the jobs of 5 or 6 different people. For the most part I'm in charge of designing labels, envelopes and inserts for the various products we manufactured, and making sure we have enough of them, ordering when necessary. I've only had to pack on one order, seems the wonderful Customer Service/Order Entry can't be bothered entrering all the ines of the Purchase Orders and it isn't their fault when the leave 1 line worth almost $18,000 off a confirmation. I got a call from the customer and he needed to know when the 150,000 lens he ordered would be shipped. I go out to lens production and asked about the order. There wasn't a back-order and no orders for that customer. I go up-stairs looking for the specific PO and find it already shipped, but as I match up the items ordered,I notice the left off line but when pointed out to the person who entered the PO she accuses me of being mistaken and that she would never screw up on entering an order. She reviews the PO and then accuses me of being "mean" to her. I go to the VP and tell him I'll go downstairs and start packing and that I'm going to pull everyone off what they are doing in Lens and have them help me. We had 55,000 lens packed, so only 95,000 needed to ship. I call the customer to let him know it will ship either the day after next or the day after that. I go out in the back and start packing around 11:30, soon all the women are helping me pack on this order. The second in charge in Lens was astounded by how fast I pack as well as count. By 4pm I have packed 9,000 lens and everyone has packed over half of what is needed to complete the order. The next day the person in charge of Lens shows up, she wants to know why I'm packing, I tell her the story about the missing line on the PO and that we needed to get the order out. She makes a few grumbling sounds until her second comes over and her tells her I can outpack anyone back there and that without me they wouldn't be anywhere near finished. At 10am we have break and I start counting the finished boxes, we had packed 9,000 more than what we needed. I tell the person in Shipping he'll have a Canadian shipment, go tell the VP we're finished and then call the customer to tell him his order will be leaving that day. The customer is happy with the speediness of the response, tells me he knew he could count on me fixing the problem and I go back to my office to collapse. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 30th, 2008|03:32 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Buffett, George Strait, Billie Holliday | ] |
Last weekend was the final for the Trivia round. Our team placed 52 out of 1020 teams who finished 4th or higher any of the12 weeks. Not too bad considering the number of teams and several weeks which we got points there were only 1 or 2 members playing.
All Hallow's Eve is coming up and I need to finish my costume. I'm going to combine Super Mario with Mario Batali to get Super Mario Batali. Photos to follow. Plans right now are to drive into East Point and have dinner with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) huffdaddyatl</lj> and D! along with several other people showing up to pass out candy and have a pre-party there. I've got several bacon-wrapped filets in the freezer which will be thrown on the grill along with a couple of dips and spreads and toasted pita. huffdaddyatl</lj> is going to fix some crock-pot bar-be-que. So we'll have protein and spreads. I'm sure someone will think to bring veggies. Was thinking about another Chocolate Bread Pudding made with Krispy Kreme's but I think there will be enough sugar there without dessert.
Then depending on the time, we'll go to FROGS for their Hallowe'en party then after that heading over to the Eagle for more fun and working the back bar as a fund-raiser. For some reason I'm thinking that I'll need this weekend to recover from Friday night. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 23rd, 2008|07:06 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Where else - the Office | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Dwight Yoakam, Julie London, Willie Nelson, Diane Krall | ] |
Last night huffdaddyatl, altversaguy and I blew off trivia to go with Dannie, George, Phredd! and the Southern Bears to one of the haunted attractions in the area. Most of us met up at Woofs and I drove since I could get 5 in my car and Huffdaddyatl didn't drive the first sign of the apocalypse - minvan. Had several really good special effects, though there was one or two places which really could have been better. These attraction had two different tours the first one focusing on the macabre - having the supernatural and classic horror genre, the second focusing more on the sinister - the deranged, psychopath haute horror. We went through both attractions and drove back into town so I could drop off everyone back at Woofs to get their cars and then I headed back to the condo.
Having gone through the attractions, it got me longing for the days I worked at the Haunted Hotel of Olde Greensborough, doing make-up, setting up the attractions and acting as a guide through the attractions. Now when I go back to downtown Greensboro I sometimes drive by where we held the attraction and wistfully think back to those days and the fun we all had. |
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| Weekend Update |
[Oct. 20th, 2008|07:49 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  lethargic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Nat King Cole, Tammy Wynette, Josh Groban, Phil Vassar, Jethro Tull | ] |
The weekend started off round 1pm Friday afternoon when i left work early. Went home and watched the first disk of the Battlestar Galactica miniseries. Then got a call from Lynn, seems his youngest, Caleb, was driving home from school friday afternoon, it was raining the car in front of him slammed on brakes and he was able to stop but not the car behind him. Caleb got rear-ended, messed up the car he was driving (his grandparents). Caleb wasn't hurt but it did want me to drive to NC and I would have except for plans on Saturday.
Got up on Saturday and drove to Atlanta to help in the photo shoot for the Buck's calendar at Piedmont Park. Then we went to FROGS for lunch.
After wards several groups went to the Little 5 Points annual Halloween parade. Great costumes, lots of people, parents not restraining their children.
After the parade, walked back to the car and headed to the Eagle to park the car. Went inside and asked if I could leave the car there since I was planning on working the club bar. They had no problem so I started the walk to the Fox, 5 blocks away. Stopped over at Mary Mac's Tea Room for dinner and then continued onto the Fox Theater to see the touring production of Wicked. Got there about 45 minutes before the rest of the guys got there. As I was standing waiting, I got approached by a cute 20 something who wanted to talk about how God would judge me for seeing the show. I asked him if he knew anything about the show other than the title. He admitted he didn't. He said he was asked to show up there for Jesus. Finally got rid of him and the guys I was going to the production showed up. We went inside, found our seats and enjoyed the production. As soon as the show was over I told them I'd see them at the Eagle and walked the five blocks back.
It was a slow night but did more people did show up. Around midnight Frenchy and I took over the club bar and I again slung drinks for the rest of the evening. Crowd was good considering we were outside and the weather was chilly. Also Central Bears of Florida had Bear Bust in Orlando over the weekend. Closed the bar at 2am and had to wait about 15 minutes before Yuke showed up to ring the register out and Timmy showed up to stand guard until one of the barbacks was able to lock the cage and take the liquor away. Counted out the till, turned in the money and headed back to Acworth around 2:45am. Crawled into bed and was asleep soon after.
Got up and started the official day with a trip to market and coming back to fix a chicken casserole, clean around the condo, watch the last couple episodes of Firefly, took a shower and read some pages in the book I'm currently reading - Simon R Green's Paths Not Taken, Volume 5 of his Nightside Series. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 16th, 2008|08:43 am] |
Showed up to post the meme and so I hadn't posted in a few weeks.
Couple of weeks ago, the Buck's had a cook-out/fund-raiser at the Eagle. It was fun, lots of food remained. I prepared both a veggie and a dessert. The veggie was Endive with Blue Cheese, the dessert was a Chocolate Bread Pudding made with Krispy Kreme doughnuts with a buttered rum sauce and an Irish creme sauce.
The Buck's are 3-1 so far this season with 3 games to go. We've beat the other 2 gay local teams, Charlotte Royals once and the Nashville Grizzlies twice. The remaining games are with High Country (local straight team), the Charlotte Royals, and then ther Phoenix Suns. All the games are here, we had to pull out of the San Francisco match because we didn't have enough players who could commit to playing out there.
Been going to Trivia every week, last week we sucked "great big syphillatic elephant dicks" as Atlversaguy said last night (10.15) as we were playing trivia with Huffdaddyatl at F.R.O.G.S. We sort of redeemed ourselves last night and came in third out of eight. As of right now, we are in the finals though the tournament is being held at 3pm on the 26th of this month and we have tickets to see Wicked at 7pm that night. The breeders we have on the team are in the process of putting together a team to take the place of me, Aaron and John.
Went home last weekend and took a couple of days off from work so the trip wouldn't be so hectic. There was a NASCAR race in Charlotte this weekend and I didn't want to be fighting the traffic going through Charlotte both ways so I left after trivia last wednesday night and then drove back on monday.
This weekend the Buck's are trying to finish up the photographs to be used in the calendar for 2009. Hopefully the weather will be nice for outside pictures to be taken, then afterwards it's the annual Little 5-Points Hallowe'en Parade. A group of the Bucks will be going so we may decide to eat afterwards and Saturday is also barnight for the Bucks at the Eagle, so I'll most likely go just in case I need to tend bar again.
Work-wise, I'll be working a catalogue of all the products we offer, trying to plump-up the numbers of pages and work it so that we can hve lots of them printed to use for many years and then only have the price list updated every year on fewer pages and on a different paper. Was told yesterday (10.15) I needed to create an insert to be included in the corporate calendar. Was told I would be working with one of my super-religious co-workers on the project. She got very defensive about me working with her on it. She said that she wanted to do the insert and that it was her's. She was told that she could design it but I was going to have to deliver it to the printer in a file the printer could work with. I guess she thought they would take the page from her and photocopy it "as is", instead of formatting it to be printed. At least I don't have to create the calendar as well. Met with the owner's daughter yesterday as well. She comes from an operations background and will mainly working with the sales reps we use and with me to create an over-all cohesive look for the company.
I've got my Hallowe'en costume set for this year - Super Mario Batali Brother, just need to pick-up a ginger wig and a pair of bibbed overalls. Going to go to Aaron's for tricks-or-treaters then around 10 or so, we'll head over to the Eagle for the Buck's Hallowe'en party. |
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| Yet another Meme. |
[Oct. 16th, 2008|08:30 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Office | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Rod Stewart | ] |
Ganked this one from Tacos and Beats who grabbed it from Joey
01) Are you currently in a serious relationship? Define "serious" - am I seeing someone exclusively then "no", am I seeing someone who I would enjoy falling asleep with and waking up to see them first thing in the morning then "yes".
02) What was your dream growing up? Growing up was to go to college and become a teacher. Been there, Done that, Got the lousy pay. Why can't I still have a dream?
03) What talent do you wish you had? Not to procrastinate as much as I do.
04) If I bought you a drink what would it be? Most likely Iced tea, sweet (I am from the South) with a slice of lime. Alcoholic - I would have to say either REALLY good vodka (triple Grey Goose with a twist of orange) or Jack Daniel and ginger ale.
05) Favorite vegetable? Asparagus
06) What was the last book you read? Currently reading volume 5 of the Nightside series by Simon R Green, last books were volume 1 through 4 of same series.
07) What zodiac sign are you? Leo.
08) Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Explain where. None as of yet.
09) Worst Habit? Procrastinating
10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride? If I knew you, yes, of course.
11) What is your favorite sport? To play? Rugby
12) Do you have a Pessimistic or Optimistic attitude? Pessimistic - things can only get better.
13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Kill you so you would stop using up all the oxygen. Actually would most likely talk.
14) Worst thing to ever happen to you? Most likely, being sexually abused as a small child.
15) Tell me one weird fact about you. I can touch my forefinger and little finger together, over the second and ring finger and I can spread my toes apart like a hand.
16) Do you have any pets? Not at the current moments, they were delicious.
17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly? I'd go, this is weird, WTF is Tomas doing in GA/NC .
18) What was your first impression of me? Funny
19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary? Even after being stuffed and their heads mounted on the wall, clowns are SCARY!!!
20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? Would want my foreskin back.
21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? Depending on what you were about to do, but most likely Conscience.
22) What color eyes do you have? Brown just starting to lose the pigment, so in a decade the answer will be ice blue.
23) Ever been arrested? No.
24) Bottle or can soda? Don't drink sodas. And I can taste the aluminum
25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it? Pay a huge chunk of Guaranteed Student Loan and if I had any left, go on vacation.
27) What's your favorite place to hang out at? Home.
28) Do you believe in ghosts? I think the more important question would be "Do they believe in you?"
29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Read, occasionally watch TV, Cook, Create Christmas ornaments
30) Do you swear a lot? What type of goddamn, mother-fucking, stupid-ass question is that? What cunt-licking, son-of-a-bitch would ask such a thing? No, especially if I'm teaching..
31) Biggest pet peeve? People passing the buck when it was their fault.
32) In one word, how would you describe yourself? Hirsute
33) Do you believe/appreciate romance? Yes and yes, Romance can be quite fun especially if both parties are romancing each other.
34) Favorite and least favorite food? Depends on what I'm hungry for. I can do Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Greek, Italian, Southern; Beef, Pork, Chicken, Lamb, Bison. Least favorite would be internal organs and certain vegetables.
35) Do you believe in God? If you are asking if I believe in a HIGHER BEING, then yes. If you are asking if I believe in someone who actively watches us and can be motivated through worship and praise, created the world in 6 days and buried the dinosaurs underground just to fool us, then no.
36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you? Most likely. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 24th, 2008|01:03 pm] |
Left last Thursday (09.18) to drive back to NC. Lynn was feeling under the weather so we couldn't have dinner as planned. Had planned on taking him to Durham and got back in time to drive on to Durham and have dinner at the Durham Bears' Dinner Night but with him feeling poorly, I went by myself. Only Matt knew there was a possibility of me showing up, and I surprised a couple of the guys. The third Thursday of each month a different restaurant is picked and we converge on it. This month's victim was Bocci, a nice Italian restaurant which I've always enjoyed my dishes and I've always had to get to-go boxes, this time being no exception. We were in what is normally the private dining room but we had two other large parties in there as well. One table looked to be business men, then there were the Bear table (14 bears), the third table looked to be Sorority pledge meeting. They were be far the loudest table but that's OK we got back at them by doing "What Not To Wear" on them. Very little style or sense of color coordination. Some of them figured out what we were doing and exiting through the patio entrance instead of going down the walk of shame.
Friday was a good day, got to work on a 250 watts laser over at Alan's (new play toy), delivered envelopes and picked a few up to drive back to Georgia. Went over to Lynn's later on and helped replace bulbs and put together the kitchen lights. Spent time visiting with them until Trent left for the high school football game.
Saturday got up and again visited with some friends before heading to Gastonia for the Bucks vs. Charlotte Royals match. Got there and worked as the med-tech as well as water-boy for most of the game. Bucks won 43 to 27, so we're 1-1 for the season, we lost the first game to Chattanooga but the team seems to be jelling nicely after only 2 real games. Had a couple of injuries, nothing too bad until about 2 minutes left in the game when one of our players got his nose broken. After loading the car up, I started back to Atlanta so I could help at the bar night at the Eagle. Didn't get back to Acworth til around 3am and just left everything in the car. Standing up at the bar almost all night, running water as well as med-tech over strained the femoral muscles and I was sore.
Sunday stayed inside for most of the day and finished watching Season 2 of Ugly Betty, started watching Season 3 of Avatar: The Last Air-Bender with Season 2 of Torchwood in the wings.
Finally getting over the muscle soreness, didn't want to lose any benefit so I pushed on and walked several times to the mailbox at work each day and still park the car and force myself to walk whenever I went shopping. Usually it would only be painful after setting for some time and then having to walk again. Instead of using the phone I tried to have to walk everywhere at work.
Tonight is Trivia at FROGS and the trivia at Twisted Taco has been moved to Thursday night at 8pm. Last week we got 150 points (100 from Twisted Taco and 50 from FROGS) hopefully this week we can continue. A little controversy last week at FROGS, one table knew the exact number of consecutive weeks Pink FLoyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" spent on Billboards Top 200 chart. The triviameister called them on it, they claimed to have guessed, the crowd "Boo-ed" them. After wards, I talked with Noel and he showed me their score, for the most part they knew very little of the general knowledge and would only get the answers most of the rest of the teams know as well. In Testing Theory there are statistical analyses which can be used to determine whether or not someone is guessing by comparing the questions they got right to those they got wrong against everyone else's responses It's one of the techniques people use to verify standardized tests and make the test a reliable testing method.
Currently our team is in the final for $5000 and trip to Bahamas, unfortunately the final game is the same day a group of us has tickets to see Wicked. Mike and Michelle won't be joining us that night and so they may bring a few more friends with them and I may stop by for the first half before heading on to dinner and show in Atlanta. |
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| You can thank Tomas AKA audiodubliner |
[Sep. 18th, 2008|07:21 am] |
Rules:
* Take a picture of yourself right now
* Don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture
* Post that picture with NO editing
* Post these instructions with your picture
Photo taken at 7:18am on 18 September 2008, in my office at work, been up for about an hour and had to pack car to drive back to NC later on this morning. Couldn't get to sleep last night, went to bed around 11pm but was up past 1am and woke up at least twice during the night. |
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| Where were You? |
[Sep. 11th, 2008|12:48 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sad | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Alison Kruass & Union Station, Belinda Carlisle, Hwy 101, Spandau Ballet, Prince | ] |
On the seventh anniversary of the saddest day in recent American history, I think back to where I was, who I was, and what I was doing that fateful morning. Seated at my desk in Ramseur, NC I was working on some artwork when my father told me what happened. I jumped over to MSN but nothing had been posted. This was after the first plane but before the second. I walked across the street to the dry cleaner, and he had the TV on with the news. Right as I got there the second plane hit. Dumbstruck, I watched in horror and then went back to work and told my employees. I kept checking on MSN and other newspages to keep the employees updated. Later when the Pentagon was struck, I tried e-mailing a friend I knew where worked there. Luckily her office was on one of the far sides and was physically hurt. When the towers fell I tried called my younger sister because of through her I met Leslie and Andrew Tishman, children of the owners of Tishman Construction who built the World Trade Centers and still had offices in Tower 2 near the top. Again luck was with them and none of the family members we knew were there at the time of the attacks. They lost many employees that day.
Later that week I drove out on a business trip for the company, visiting customers in Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. I had already arranged to have a rental car for the trip. It was truly eerie driving at night and not seeing any planes in the sky. Even out in the middle of the ocean at night you can see high flying planes crossing the Atlantic.
The racial hysteria which followed before Al-Quieda had claimed responsibility, was almost too much to bear. I remember the Oklahoma City bombing and how everyone was convinced it had to be a Muslim radical group and not some white guy, American citizen. How everyone was convinced, and some still think, it had to be Saddam behind the attack.
People lashed out at the unfamiliar, some still do. I've got people who say we should just turn the entire area into a vast glass sheet, not carrying about all the people who aren't terrorists who would be killed. People tend to forget that "Christians" did much more horrible acts to the Muslim and Arab world during the 12th through 14th centuries. People lump sub-continent Indians in with the Muslims, they forget the Republican lead US government helped put Saddam into power as an answer to the failed Shah regime in Iran.
People ask why does the Arab world hate the US so much when the US government blindly supports the Israeli regime who are occupiers of the Middle East. Israel who has been caught, on more than one occasion, spying on the US their "friend". Israel who annexes land from the Palestinians in the name of creating a buffer or safe zone between their country and the rest of the Middle East. If they want to create a safe zone, then have them take land from their fucking country. When Russia invaded Georgia in August 2008, almost every Western country rushed to condemn Russia's aggressive stance, but when Israel does the same thing it always in their defense.
People call me naive because I don't hate all Arabs or Muslims. They think me a traitor to my country because I didn't automatically refused to eat French Fries or French Toast. Call me stupid and uninformed when I support and still listen to the Dixie Chicks for their denouncement of George W(orst President in Recent History) Bush. People tend to forget we have a Right to Free Speech, that when the Dixie Chicks said they were ashamed of Bush, they weren't attacking the Presidency, they were attacking the fucking, asswipe, cunt-licker who happens to be currently in that position. I am proud to be an American, I am ashamed how the Republican controlled regime has limited our freedoms, and rights in the name of Protecting Americans. If GWB wanted to protect Americans, he should have served in Vietnam not hiding in the Reserves. And who does GWB send to war, the reserves. He is an embarrassment to the position of POTUS. When called after the election of 2000 but before 09.11.2001 and asked what I thought of GWB, I remember telling the survey taker that I thought he was a war-mongering asshole who will get the US involved in a war in the Middle East. I felt that the first time he told people that he was going to get Saddam for trying to kill his daddy. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 9th, 2008|11:07 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Tim McGraw, Bette Midler, Psychodelic Furs, Nitty Gritt Dirt Band | ] |
Just checked the standings for Trivia, as of September 1 we are ranked #83 (with 275 points) out of 604 teams, 48th place (4 spots from the finalists). The top 75 teams compete for the Grand Prize of $5000 plus trip to Bahamas with the next 35 teams as "stand-bys". Didn't place last week at FROGS but had a good time anyway. I've got Trivia tonight at the Twisted Taco which is about 10 miles from where I live, whereas FROGS is about 35 miles in midtown Atlanta. I picked up another 100 points last week with an objection to one of the answers. The question was: "What country is closest to the US but doesn't share a boarder witht he US?" One team had Cuba - which is 90 miles, another team had Russia - which is 53 miles, I put Bahamas - with Bimini only 47 miles east of Miami. The answer given was Russia and the Quizmeister said he would ask his bosses. I told him I would bring the proof this week for my answer. If the answer is allowed and Russia is disallowed then I should get another 100 points since it will move me from third to first place. I'm the only one playing at Twisted Taco whereas the first and second place teams had 4 people each. I told the Quizmeister I should get either a difficulty multiplier or the other teams need to be handicapped. Most of the questions I've missed so far have been dealing with popular music. I'm going "Who cares about Christine, Britney, Mariah or Gwen?"
Last week at FROGS trivia it was funny because the entire team was together. One question was dealing with the country where Krakatoa erupted. Mike and I were naming countries in the ocean between Asia and Australia, we wrote down Malaysia but had mentioned Indonesia. Oh course it was Indonesia and Aaron had said something about going with out first impulse. The next question was on Labor Day and dealt with the two people who organized the farm union in California. I was writing down "Cesar Chavez" when Aaron goes "Are you sure?" I looked at him and the look must have been enough cause he shrinks back going "OK, OK" and puts his hands up shielding himself. Last week, each round had a question dealing with Labor Day, got all of them but the questions weren't too hard. Second round: "What white article of clothing are you not to wear after Labor Day?" (Shoes - no matter what Patty Hearst character says in "Serial Mom"); third round: "While the US celebrates Labor Day in September, in what month does most of the rest of the world celebrate Labor Day? (May - Workers Day or May Day, May 1st). Can't remember the First Round Labor Day question but I know we got it. At the half way mark we had a four-way tie for first place with perfect scores of 52.
This weekend we have the first Rugby match. Against Chattanooga, there, so I've got to decide if I'm going to spend the night and drive back on Sunday or after the 3rd half, drive back on Saturday. Chattanooga I've been told is one of the straight teams but they have in the past had the 3rd half at one of Chattanooga's gay bars. Need to decide if I'm going to bring a hamper or not with nice little nibblys. I do have several cheeses, crackers and cured meats already. Just need to get some fruits (grapes, pears, apples) and maybe some crusty bread. I've got a couple of bottles of bubbly as well that can be put in. Get a couple of camp chairs, bring the canopy, maybe a folding table as well. Let the inner Fag-a-nista(TM) out, or I may save it for the first home game in October against the Nashville Grizzlies. We had talked about having Cosmos or some other drink ready at the end of the game. |
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| In support of Noodlesandbeef |
[Sep. 3rd, 2008|01:26 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | office | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | bored | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Alison Krauss/Union Station, Billie Holliday, Dwight Yoakam, Aaron Copland | ] |
A few days ago NoodlesandBeef decided to close down the FAP (Furry Art Pile) due to reasons which he doesn't need to give nor justify. Then Google placed auto-links to his site just to tease him. When he announced his decision you would have thought he had just announced he kicked kittens and boiled puppies with the drama which ensued. The comments which streamed in generating so many responses (at last count 267) that you have multiple pages just to list them.
Today I checked out the XKCD.COM submission (see above) and was another furrie related item. You'd think that everyone and their pets were of this mindset. Where's a psychoanalyst when you need one.
Very few seem to understand the time to keep a site running and there are times when you just dread having to work on something which at one time was fun but now feels more like an unpaid, and usually unappreciated, job. My father has wanted me to open a restaurant for a long time and he doesn't seem to understand I enjoy cooking, but I don't want to do it for a living. If I had to cook everyday for masses of people, cooking would quickly lose the joy and become a chore. People evolve, so should the furries.
So: GO DYLAN, GO DYLAN, GO DYLAN
LOCK AND LOAD PEOPLE, IT'S FURRIE SEASON. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 27th, 2008|07:17 am] |
Did trivia at the Twisted Taco in Kennesaw last night. Part of the same tournament as FROGS on Wednesday so points from last night will be added to the team's over-all points. Did OK, but then nobody did stellar, came in second with 70 points (doubled to 140 pts for the location) and received a $15 gift card. Will most likely continue to do trivia there, only had 5 teams to begin with and then one team left so all teams who finished the game got points. Still have trouble second guessing myself and lost could have added 14 more points to my score if I had went with first guess, which would have put me in the lead. Since I was the only person on my team, I don't feel too bad about being beaten by a team with 4 members. Though I could have used Huffdaddyatl's music knowledge last night, had two questions which I'm sure he would have known since one dealt with Gwen Stefani and the other answer was Mariah Carey.
Got FROGS trivia tonight and then tomorrow I'll be heading back to NC after dinner with a trunk load of blank envelopes. I've got to put the car in the shop on Friday morning and hopefully they'll be able to fix it the same day. A couple fo weeks ago when I was in NC, the AC on the car stopped working. Was going to check the fuses but wasn't able to get to the fuse box since it is under the hood and you need a wrench to open it. However when I got back in and started the car, the AC came on and worked until last Friday (08.22). I got in at work and the AC wouldn't come on. It was mid 80s and the car had been closed for most of the morning. Drove back to the condo, went inside and read a couple of hours then decide to drive to Borders to pick-up a book and when I got in the car the AC was working again with no problem. This past Monday (08.25), I got in the car to drive to work and the AC wasn't working again and hasn't since then. So I called the dealership and have an appointment on Friday. I really don't want to have to drive the truck down (Mom said it was acting strange when they drove it last and I'm sure they haven't had it checked out yet), nor do I want to be driving down mom's Jetta, great on mileage but a little small. I'll get Dad to follow me to the dealership and then we'll head to Greensboro to drop off the envelopes and most likely have breakfast somewhere along the way.
Since I'm not planning on driving back until Monday, Lynn, Trent (if he's home) and I will most likely go to Durham on Sunday and have the buffet at Spartacus. If those plans fall through I may go anyway and eat with Matt since we haven't been out for a couple of months. |
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