I plumbed!
Monday, September 27, 2010
I fixed pipes last night. Now I'm good looking, smart, AND manly. A triple threat! Here's what happened.I was doing my thing, helping out in the kitchen. Kendle had bought a bunch of groceries so I put down the video games and was putting them away while she got dinner ready. So I was putting all the different kinds of noodles in one place in the pantry. I was moving all our old noodles to the new spot when the end on a box of spaghetti opened up! So there were noodles ALL OVER the floor! So then I had to pick them all up and throw them into the disposal.
Sheepishly I started to clean up. I thought to myself "Man, this should be a fight. I'm all fummbly bummbly in the kitchen, wasting food. I should just get out of her way. I'm causing more mess than helping." I guess that's just not how we work. She stopped cooking and helped clean up the noodles. I threw them into the sink and shoved them down the disposal hole.
I turned the water and disposal on, and the sink starts to fill up, and the disposal creates this vortex in the sink, with the water just whipping into a frenzy but not going down the drain.
"OH....I put a lemon down there, did I break it?" Kendle said noticing me turning off the disposal and shoving my hand down the hole to get at whatever was down there.
"Well I can't feel anything in the disposal, it must have moved to the pipes."
I'll digest the next hour and a half into a list. It's easier reading.
- I disconnected the pipes and splashed a full sink of water MOSTLY into a bucket, but lot's of it ended up all over me. oh, and it wasn't just water..it was carrots, spaghetti and soapy water.
- Cleared the clog, put it all back together turned the water on, and found out there was more than one clog
- Splashed another sink full of water all over me and the kitchen, and some got in the bucket
- Took it all back apart, found the clog was in a pipe that had somehow magically been installed, as it was too long to come out from under the sink
- Reversed the dark magic install spell and somehow managed to get the long pipe out, then cleared the second clog
- Reinstalled everything, watched as the water flowed down the drain freely
So the whole time I'm grumbling and mumbling. THIS should be a fight too, I'm thinking. I should be pissed and screaming cause a stupid lemon got stuck down here. But I don't. I mean, the thought actually crossed my mind that I SHOULD be mad, but I wasn't. How many times have we thrown lemons down there? A MILLION. It makes it smell better I think. I was more focused on the problem than what had caused it.
LUCKY ME! Can you imagine me bitching for an hour and a half and blaming Kendle for putting a lemon down there and then pulling out....THE SPAGHETTI!
Turns out wet spaghetti can go down the disposal all day long...dry spaghetti will clog your pipes.
So then we sat down to dinner, which was STILL HOT (I really don't know how she manged that)! So as we are eating dinner I think to myself "I think I must be watching too much "Teen Mom," this isn't fight worthy for a normal couple, this is just normal life. Some days you gotta fix a pipe or kill a spider or haul the trash down to the street.
I think those people on TV probably need to step back and look at life from a different angle. They all seem a little self absorbed. Course...what do I know? I didn't have a one year old running into tables and needing constant attention the whole time I was trying to fix pipes.
PS...Gary for real needs to leave that Amber chick.
Labels: cooking, Kendle, life lessons
This is a true story
Friday, September 24, 2010
So I went to Taco Bell on Tuesday.Well, I went to Taco Bell Monday, Tuesday and Thursday...and I ate at Mas Amigos on Wednesday. I guess you could say I'm all Mexicaned out. Some people say "Variety is the spice of life." I say "go eat a taco!"
But that's not the point of this story. Oh no. This story is about how I went in to Taco Bell, and ordered a #2. See the #2 is a grilled stufft' burrito and nachos. The lady looked up and said "Hard or soft taco?" To which I just dumbly stared at her till she said "OH! Whoops, I already punched in your usual"
My USUAL?
Recently I've been eating a #7, which DOES come with a hard or soft taco. Apparently I've been exclusively eating #7's, and with such regularity that a)the taco lady KNOWS me on sight, and b) is pavlovianly trained to punch in the #7 when she sees me.
I think I need to get a new taco bell or something.
How I won "the game"
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
So yesterday I got that post-it-note with just the words "the game" on it. I had no idea what it was, and it freaked me out for the first two hours of my day. Then I found out who put it there, and what it means, and its really not that scary.
You can read this:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-game
But I'll paraphrase it here.
"the game" was invented in 1977 by members of the Cambridge University Science Fiction Society. "the game" is a set of rules where by merely thinking about the game, makes you lose the game.
I researched it a little further and it turns out 4chan popularized it. For those of you who are internet savy, they need no introduction, but for those of you less "in the know" I'll explain them in stories you may have heard about.
4chan is an internet message board that offers complete anonymity. They don't require any personal info to post and they don't keep logs. You probably first heard of them from their battle against the Church of Scientology. All those Guy Fawkes masks, and people outside of the churches...that was all set up by 4chan.
You might have heard of the recent attacks on the MPAA and RIAA's websites. Also orchestrated by 4chan. But they just don't do mean things to evil corporations. Oh no, they are also responsible for most of the internet memes you read about. Rick rolling? Yeah, that was 4chan too. And by the time you were rick rolling your friends, they were off doing the NEXT big thing on the internet.
If you think about it...these guys are the Henry Thoreau's of our generation. No no...stop it, I can see you are getting angry. HDT was all about civil disobedience. Breaking the laws that were unfair, and that's exactly what these guys are doing. I don't want to get all preachy because the "right to steal music and movies" is clearly different then the "right to not pay taxes." But the idea is there. If "the people" want something, or don't want something (in this case, to pay for music) it should be that way. Its a government for the PEOPLE, not for the CORPORATIONS.
The problem is "We the People" have given all our power (ie MONEY) to the corporations. So now they have that power...and LOTS of it. In essence, NOT paying for music and movies is just a way to take the power BACK.
But I digress...4chan made the game popular, and apparently it's leaked out into popular culture because if I know about it...its gotta be old news :)
There is good news. I won the game. Later in the day I received this message:
So I hunkered down and got that post live!
to which they replied "I'll do you one better" and I shortly received this email:
So I won "the game", forever. It's on the internet, it must be true.
You, however, just lost the game.
Labels: youtube
the game
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
I came into my office and sat down at my desk like I do on ANY Tuesday. A little woozy from being around cats the night prior, and full of beef jerky and Coors Light.This Tuesday was different. This Tuesday would come with an ominous message, in the form of a post-it note.
I quickly spun around expecting to see either Michael Douglas OR a clown with a note on it. Either way, I mentally prepared myself for the worst.
There was nothing there.
My initial thought was that Dop had been in the office again. See he left me a note last time he was here, and I kept it. It actually sits out where everyone can see the fact that he was here, and that I had missed him. So it was easy to compare handwriting.
HORRORS! The handwriting did not match! The e's were close, but the h was the givaway, Dop's are more roundy, and the mystery note was more pointy.
So now I'm looking around every corner before I walk, and I'm watching my back. It appears "the game" is truly afoot!
PS
No seriously...who put this note on my monitor, it's freaking me out.
Even way back then...
Thursday, September 16, 2010
This is the dry erase board at my Grandma's house in Tucson, AZ. You will note, that she has saved our scribbles from LONG ago. I mean, I see a "1991" on there, so they have to be at least 19 years old!Some of those look to be Charlie's, and some of those are for sure my brothers (The man with wings and the dragon are for sure his). If you click the image it will be large enough for you to read the words. Even if you don't, you can see, right there smack dab in the middle...my name.
Now at first glance, you may think that I've named that pig nosed fellow after myself, or that it's a self portrait. That's what I thought at first too. But if you look closely, there's a little line pointing to the smiley face to the left.
Even back then I couldn't draw, but I would be DAMNED if I was gonna be left out! My skills in art have not progressed in 19ish years, but making sure my name is out there was clearly important to me, even at the young age of 11...or 15 or whatever age I was when I drew that.
Now I just need to get over there and draw a hunka.net logo so that all the people in her community can start checking out this awesome site. I could get an award "Voted #1 website in all of Sun City Vistoso"
Labels: art, hunka, Image, picture
Tailgatin'
Monday, September 13, 2010
Well this is the first...no wait second, time I've done this. The first time it was official. I was supposed to be at my company's tailgate, and I was supposed to be eating that food and drinking that beer. That was fun, you know what makes it MORE fun. NOT being invited, but still showing up and getting all the free food and drinks.
So after work on Saturday, Kendle, Julie, and I met up with Trent and Heather and Mike. We went to this sweet show in the middle of the tailgate with the Brat Pack.
So Trent was official, and had hooked up Julie and Kendle with VIP wrist bands. I showed up late and didn't get my own, but that was no big deal. It actually worked out better, cuase then THEY had to go get ME beers, and I just got to chill.
So after the game started, we all just crashed the REALLY NICE tailgate, which had a big screen TV, full bar, and tons off food. We really just wanted to watch the game. At this point no one really seemed to care if you have a wrist band or not. They had gone through all the kegs and the grill was turned off, and they were breaking things down.
But see., they left the grill there, and the left a cooler full of meat there...so OF COURSE Trent and Mike fired that bad boy up and started cooking more. Looking guilty as ever, I snapped this picture of 'em.So that's when the guys running the show come over.
"Who told you guys to cook?" one of them asks.
"Oh, ummm, that guy over there" Mike says and point's vaguely off towards the stage.
"Some...girl" Trent says at the same time. The guy looks at both of these jokers, rolls his eyes, and says "how 'bout you finish up what you got there, and turn the grill off?"
BUSTED! But in the nicest possible way. All in all a good afternoon/evening. Exactly what I needed after working at SC all day.
Labels: football, HeatherJ, Julie, Kendle, Simplified Computers, Trent
New Roomie = New Grill?
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Now I really appreciate the Rebbecca House grill. It has served me really well for six years, but its been rained on and snowed on and heated up and cooled down so many times. It was rusting, and the thing inside that holds the coals up was busted and in general it was time for a new grill.Pappa Hunka was gonna buy me one, cause he knows how much I like to grill, but he would rather not get me a really nice one since I have nowhere to really store the thing.
So new roomie Sheila moves in and then A DAY LATER goes ahead and offers up this grand daddy of "new to you" grills. Her grandpa was getting rid of it. Litterally wanted to recycle it for the metal. But since I was looking for a new...nicer but not too fancy grill, he REFURBED THE WHOLE THING. Like, new burner, painted it, made sure the whole thing works great and then drove it over to the house.
Now I've never owned a gas grill, so he even spent some time with me and showed me how to work the thing.
Oh and the best part? This little beauty:
"But Ben" you might say "That's just a burner attachment. Lots of grills have those."
No sir (or madam, depending on whats between your legs)...THAT is freedom. See SOME people (KENDLE!!!!) don't eat grilled food, and it's really hard to fire up the grill for one burger or brat. But with this little baby on the side I could do a burger and boil some water for hot dogs or mac and cheese or something. This means...I can grill more now, cause I can grill and NOT grill at the same time!
So the old grill? Where did it go? On to the curb where it was gone within two hours. God I love my street.
Labels: Kendle, Pappa Hunka, Sheila, Stanage, Stoop
This is kinda pimp
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
The first 15 seconds are super tight, then the signing starts. Now, that being said...I still like it, but it might be a little too happy/sappy for some of you.And if you liked that, check this:
Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare
Jayk's Birthday
BEN! Where ARE you? No post Friday? No post MONDAY!? We need our hunka.net updates!Well in honor of Jayk's Birthday Wolfram gave us Friday off, and Monday was labor day...I was busy LABORING in the yard. Now usually we would spend his birthday NOT hanging out, trying to forget the day, but not this year.
See there's an interesting thing that happens when you refuse to celebrate your birthday...people FORGET what day your b-day is.
So Ed! calls both of us up to come out. Now I KNOW it's Jayk's Birthday and JAYK knows its Jayks Birthday, but Ed! has no idea.
So we all show up, the beans are spilled, and we proceed to have a good time. I drank fancy beer, hence the picture of me with my pinky out. Jayk dodged cameras left and right...hence no pictures of him for this post.
Oh, so how old is he? He's like 27 to 32 or something. I really can't remember. It's been so long since we celebrated!
Labels: bars, Birthday, downtown, Ed, hunka, Jayk, picture, Wolfram
Final Fantasy
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
So I beat Final Fantasy last night.
No, no. Not that one. THIS one.
The one with all the shiny new graphics and extra dungeons and stuff. You know, THIS one:
Not this one:
Ah, how far we've come graphically in just a few years. No I never played the original NES version of Final Fantasy, we didn't have one. We had a SNES.
The Final Fantasy Series has been a big part of my life for a long time. I remember my 15th birthday when I was introduced to it. My brother suggested I ask for Final Fantasy 3 (eventually renamed FF6) for my birthday. I think mostly he wanted to play it himself. He showed me some ads of a cute little white cat with a bad attitude and I was sold. I had never played an RPG before nor did I know what I was getting into.
So I played it for hours, and I got really far. I saw some crazy shit, like a Ghost train, and a world ripped apart, and crazy clown bent on power.
I saw an opera staring an octopus, saw how the death of a father can tear brothers apart, or how the death of a loved one can be a driving force long after they are gone.
But I NEVER beat the game. I think I got close, possibly to the end guy, but I've never beat him. Oh, I've seen the ending...thanks to YouTube, but that's not the same.
So that got me thinking about all the Final Fantasy games I've played and all the ones I've beaten and all the ones I've NEVER played, so I did some research, and made a list.
Green = Beaten
Red = Played but never beaten
Black = Never Played
Let's get started.
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XI (You actually can't beat this one, it never ends)
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XIII
Ain't that some sad shit? So many games, yet so few beaten.
And that's just the "main" ones. I'm not even getting into say...Chocobo Dungeon 2, or Final Fantasy: Tactics, or Dirge of Cerberus (Played, but never beaten). How about Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding, or Crisis Core (Never played), there are so many!
So, I've started my quest. I am going to beat these "Core" games. I've already bought FF2, but if anyone wants to donate a DS and FF3, I'd be grateful.
Labels: video games
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