Liloia.com Archives: February 2005
February 28, 2005
Pavement
Last week I picked up the re-release of Pavements' "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain". I have a few of their songs and really enjoy them, not to mention that I was itching to drop $20 on some decent music.
The double album was originally released back in 1994, and although Tara would call it "Dave's whiney Emo crap" (which it really isn't) this selection of 49 tunes is very tight. I found myself walking back into the room popping back a song or two to make sure I didn't miss any of it.
You know, now that I think about it, that hypocrite I call a wife did buy the new Snow Patrol album a few weeks ago. Whiney my a**
February 27, 2005
Sibilant S
My sister (Sarah) is a social worker in the Bellevile, NJ school system. She now can reap the benefits of all school employees and had this past week off due to Spring vacation.
She hadn't been to VT to see our new digs (actually, no one has....hmmmm) so it was decided that she should come up and visit us for a few days. Trevor was looking forward to her visit and was bouncing off the walls. The weather up here was cold and snowy, but didn't seem bad at all so I told her to head on up Tuesday morning.
On Route 91 coming through Springfield, VT she hit a patch of snow in the left lane and her car skidded off the road into the snow covered median. The front of her car smacked a rock wall, spun around and then the back end of the car smashed into the wall turning her around so she was now facing traffic.
The car was not drivable, and even if it was Sarah was in no shape to continue on. Physically she was all right, but mentally a little shaken. I drove down and picked her up in the lobby of a local Holiday Inn where she had setup camp with all ofher belongings from the car.
I brought her back to South Burlington and we spent the next few days hanging out, playing and helping her sort out the details of her car with the insurance company, rental car agencies and the repair shop. It looks like the car may be totalled and that she will have to snag a new vehichle.
The car rental agency wouldn't let her take the car one-way so she will have to come back to South Burlington at some point in the next month to return the car. While it sucks that her car was damaged and that she will be inconvenienced to have to make another trip up here, I am glad that we got to spend time together and I can't wait to see her again.
February 25, 2005
School Vacation
Trevor was off from school this week for his February recess, therefore I stayed home with him and worked remotely. All in all he was pretty good for the week and didn't pester me too much until today when he came in and started waving a GameBoy in my face while I was on a conference call.
"I need your help, I am stuck in a trap full of evil zombie mummies" - was whispered across the phone to people in four states, three countries and two time zones. The music from Zelda (all males between 18-34 feel free to hum it to yourself now) playing in the background.
"Trev I am on th.." I quickly flicked the mute switch on my headset.
From the Boston office thankfully someone decided to start talking at the same time and this muffled most of Trevors request. "Dave, did you say something?"
"Nope, must have been static" - Jeez that was close.
February 17, 2005
Mind the Gap
On the way to work there is a block where the sidewalks are still the original pieces of slate instead of the more modern poured concrete slabs. Between two of the pieces there is a very large gap, through which you can see that there is a cavernous region under the sidewalks. The thought of one of the slate pieces breaking causing me to fall through is not a happy one.
This hole has been there the entire time I have worked here in Boston (over 3 years). From time to time they patch the crack with concrete, but since there is nothing underneath for it to hold onto ultimately the filling falls through and the entrance to the nether-world is re-opened.
Today they apparently gave up...
Welcome to Boston.
February 16, 2005
DC for the DNC
Both Tara and I are still catching up on sleep after a very long (and yet at the same time very short) weekend in DC. We headed down there to attend the Winter DNC meeting where Tara's boss (now former boss) Howard Dean was sworn in as the new Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
All in all it was a very exciting weekend and we had a great time hanging out with Clay for the first time in almost a year. (I miss causing chaos with him)
On Sunday we tried to get close enough to see the White House, but the way they have the area cordoned off you can't get within 5 blocks of the place. Instead we checked out the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building and whatever else we could glimpse.
February 15, 2005
Boston Taxi Drivers
This morning I saw one of the most disgusting things ever.
I was trying to hail a cab instead of taking the bus this morning on Dorchester Ave because I had an early call to get to the office for. A cab pulled up and let someone out, and I approached to jump in. The driver waved me off and said that he couldn't take the fare, but that he called another cab to pick me up and it was on it's way.
As I stepped back to wait for the cab, the driver turned around and grabbed a large plastic cup from the backseat and placed it in front of him on the seat. At first I didn't realize what was going on, but I quickly realized and moved away from the cap to give him some privacy.
I was surely glad that I didn't end up sitting in the back of his cab.
February 7, 2005
Nowhere to go
As I hit another moment in my life where things are changing rapidly, I consider something my Uncle Bob said a few weeks ago at my grandfathers wake.
"People always tell you that you need to get ahead in life, but they never tell you that there really isn't anyplace to go."
Shredding Wheel
This morning on the way to school there was a Green Day song on the radio. Trevor clearly approved as he sat in the back seat head-banging to the music. After the song was over he said to me, Dad when I am a big kid I am going to start my own band.
"Oh yeah?" Dave
"Yeah, and I already know what I am going to call it....The Shredding Wheels." Trevor
"What kind of music are you going to play?" Dave
"Hip-Hop and Rock. We need to have a good beat. I am going to play guitar and sing. I need to be the singer because the person in charge is always the singer and plays guitar."
Clearly my six year old understands the politics of a rock band. Go him.
So I made him his first band sign this afternoon for his room using this image.
February 5, 2005
Nicotine is a Stimulant?
The other day Adam comes into the office and says to me "Guess what time I got to bed last night?"
I bit, "When?"
"5 AM, do you believe it?"
After some conversation he told me about how he couldn't get to sleep and by 3 AM decided to watch a movie. The two hours or so of sleep that he was able to get were not all that restful either.
I asked him if there was anything that might have caused him to be up so late, and he told me that he had 4 glasses of Coke before heading to bed. The mystery solved, we went back to work.
A few minutes later he says to me, "Oh yeah you know what else I did last night? I wore one of Deirdre's nicotiene patches to bed!" Deirdre is trying to quit smoking and to her credit is doing quite well.
...rrrrrrrttttttt! (record scratching to a stop)
"You did what?" I said
"Yeah, Deirdre and I have been talking about it for a while. She says that when she wears them, she has incredible dreams. I wanted to see what it was like. I put it on at like 10 or so but the patch was itching me all night so I took it off at about 3 AM" he said
"But, but...you don't smoke!" Dave
"Yeah, so what?" Adam
"Dude, dude. Nicotine is a stimulant!" Dave
"It is?" Adam
"Dude, why do you think people smoke cigarettes? You don't smoke cigarettes and therefore your body isn't used to the levels of nicotine in the patch, let alone nicotine at all! No wonder you were up all night!"
"Oh, well I won't do that again."
The rest of the day was spent walking past Adam's desk and asking if he wanted to go outside for a smoke, or if he had any cigarettes. He was so tired by 3:30 that he left to go take a nap at home. Freak.
February 3, 2005
Green Belt
Last week I achieved something that has been on my personal career list for some time. I received my official certification as a Six Sigma Green Belt - Continuous Improvement Specialist.
What is Six Sigma? Great Question. Six Sigma is a continuous improvement and quality control philosophy originally conceived by Honeywell and Motorola and then swiped by Jack Welsh at GE. It is similar to many of the other similar programs, but the major difference is that this program includes more attributes to include the VOC (Voice of Customer) as well as allowing for more work on process oriented improvements instead of just operational improvements.
...Er...Um...Dave, what are you talking about?
Nevermind, just know that this is something I really like and potentially will be a future career step of mine. It's all about asking the right questions and being willing to accept change. It all fits in with my philosophy of "Adapt or Die"