The End of 2005

Here it comes, kids. The big ball is gonna drop and the New Year will be brought in with a bang. I'd make the effort to throw in some sexual innuendos here but as I re-read my last sentence, I've decided society has done a plenty good job of that as it is.

My year has been a little more than full. I've dated many women, started a new job that I still enjoy coming to everyday, moved across the State, experienced tremendous heartache and great joys, made some blogging buddies that refuse to let me quit, and grew more as a person, gaining a better understanding of myself, while realizing that I still have much to learn.

This year, I will be spending New Year's with one of my best friends. The story of us is rather convoluted. I suppose that's unavoidable when the person is the object of a bet. It's ok, though, because this story has a very happy ending. She and I had plenty of late nights of drinking, philosophizing, me honing my massaging skills on her neck, back, and feet, parties, studying, and everything in between. All of that and we never kissed. I suppose the story was convoluted enough as it was; why confuse it any further. I also get to see her boyfriend again, which I am happy about because he's the first guy she has dated that I have actually liked.

Even better, it's another three day weekend. Three days of not working is always appreciated, especially when alcohol and friends are likely to be involved.

I got my digital camera today. It looks so cool. I immediately want to travel and start taking pictures. Perhaps I should throw a dart at the map and go wherever destiny decides, or maybe Kiki is right and I should just go meet some cool mid-Western girls. I've heard exceptionally good things. Besides, they shouldn't be deprived of my amazing company. (Can you feel ego?) Either way, I am very happy that it arrived just in time for the big bang.

Shopping and Women

I did it. I bit the bullet and bought myself a digital camera. Not only that, but through shopping on CNET, I found it for about $50 less than in any store, and I didn't have to pay any tax or shipping. So I am pretty happy. Plus, no store in the area has any more in stock. (I guess it must have been a popular holiday gift.) I figure I need a camera for my impending European tour. So far, I plan on going to Germany, Italy, and maybe Greece. I'm told Amsterdam is nice too, but we shall see. I'm opting out of France because it's been done to death.

I am still speaking with my ex. We tried not speaking, but it pretty much sucked. It was the least fun thing we had ever done together. She and I just have too much fun talking and spending time together to stop. It's weird. I guess the thing is that we did not breakup because we didn't like each other or enjoy one another's company. In fact, we rarely even argued. The problem is that we also did not breakup because we were no longer attracted to one another. So it is confusing. Hopefully, it will work out. I think the hardest thing would be if one of us started dating someone else anytime soon. That would probably be exceptionally awkward, but that's too far off for me to think about right now, hopefully. It is always hard to convert a lover to a friend, but we both think it is worth it and are both willing to work at it, and I've successfully done it before. So it's worth a shot. Besides, some of my closest friendships involved lots of work.

Personally, I want to take a year off from dating. I'm so tired of women and their drama, and it impacting my life. I'm told there are good women out there, but I just do not seem to meet them. Or maybe I'm not attracted to them. Maybe I have a subconscious desire to seek out women with drama. Maybe they remind me of my mother. Hard to say really, and so rather than question it or send too much time thinking about it, I've decided I should just take a break from it. Oh, avoidance, how I love you so. Maybe date here and there, but no relationships. Time and space.

I bought $50 worth of handmade chocolates for the office staff. They're pretty happy about the whole thing. Although, they are all rather concerned that they are going to get fat. I think I work with the thinnest office staff ever. It's so funny. In most offices I have worked in, the women were ... large. However, they are all rather health conscious in this one. Now if only they were younger and single. Yeah, just what I need, find a way to add more drama to my life with an office romance.

Christmas Planning and Beyond

I leave tomorrow for the wonderfully freezing land of Orlando - to spend Christmas with my best friend and his family. It's good to have friends. It's even better to have friends within a more reasonable proximity of you, but I'll take what I can get and the rest will follow in time, I'm sure. It shouldn't actually be too cold this weekend. It's supposed to warm up to about 75 in Orlando this weekend. So it should be bearable during the day, but with nights in the 40's and 50's, brrrr.

I am working on planning a trip to Europe this spring. One of my friends went to Europe right after breaking up with her boyfriend. She decided Europe would be a good place to recover from everything and get a better perspective on her life. I just have been planning on going to Europe for two years now and have never seemed to find the right time. Usually, the plans are made to incorporate the girl I am dating at the time. Then we breakup and I am left with useless plans. However, this time, I'm planning for just myself and maybe a friend (if I can find one that wants to go). I figured it was either go to Europe or buy an Acura TSX. I figure the Acura can wait a year. Vienna has waited long enough.

Even though her timing was terrible, I am glad that my ex did have the courage to tell me how she was feeling, rather than just running away again. I hope that we somehow manage to salvage a friendship out of it, in the future. I'm not sure it will really work, though. She seems to have issues with relationships of any kind with guys. No telling, but at least we parted on decent terms.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday weekend, and that you all eat entirely too much.

Bird with a Buzz

Below I have lifted an article from the newspaper here, The Sun-Sentinel. It was just too funny to pass up.

SARASOTA -- A bird with a buzz found in a Central Florida family's Christmas tree is getting ready to go back into the wild, news partner NBC 6 reported.

The little screech owl was found in the tree, which the family had kept for five days before deciding to decorate it.

Animal control officers from Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary came to get the owl, and said they smelled a strange odor on it when they did.

"Curiously enough, the owl's feathers smelled very, very potently like marijuana," said Jeff Dering, of the sanctuary. "They examined the owl, looked at its eyes, ... and the owl was, in the vernacular, stoned."

Blood tests confirmed the owl's drug state.

Sanctuary staff checked the bird out, fed him and named him "Cheech." They said he would be released in a few days.

The buzzing bird also brought an early holiday gift to the sanctuary, which was in need of more than $250,000. The attention the bird has brought has helped ensure the sanctuary's survival.

Cell Phone Woes

Ever since Hurricane Wilma hit, I have been having significant issues with using my cell phone where I live. If I travel ten (or in some cases two) miles away in any direction, my reception is perfect. However, from my apartment, my gym, one side of the grocery store (I don't make this stuff up people), all my usual haunts, my phone hasn't been working. For the first several months, I would receive the annoying message that the network was busy. Now it's even worse, as it looks like it is working: I will have full bars; it will attempt to dial; it will do everything you expect a phone to do, and then it will say that I don't have any service. Weird. Weirder still, if I leave my phone lying out in my apartment now, it will die within two hours.

I have spent weeks on the phone with Sprint PCS, explaining my problem, going to the store, being transferred to everyone and their mother. I was even sent a new phone just to shut me up. Two months, and I still don't have phone service. Then two days ago, I got the secret number. I learned that they could report problem tickets and get things fixed. Hooray. Later that night, they called me to let me know that the problem ticket had been issued and the techs had identified the problem. "Great. How long until it is fixed?" "Oh, we don't know that." "Huh?"

Eventually, the representative told me she would check on the ticket for an update and call me back the next day, yesterday. She did just as she said. However, there was still no update, and when I inquired further she confessed that the techs had not really identified the problem, they just acknowledged that there was a problem. She went on to promise to get back to me today.

I'm not sure I can take it anymore, though. How hard could it possibly be to fix this? I mean, two months?? Really? I suppose I could get a land line, but it's just more expensive, and I have to pay for installing a phone that I will only ever use until my cell phone works again. Of course, the question remains - how long will that be.

I know that Sprint is not the greatest. I've had my fair share of issues with them in the past, and I could go ahead and get a new cell phone, with a new company and a new contract. However, in some respects I can't afford to give up my plan. A few years ago I wanted to terminate my Sprint usage. They sent me to their "Retentions Department" - which has since been discontinued, and they gave me the best plan ever. I have been to every carrier, periodically, to ask them if they can match it and they all tell me I'm really lucky and to keep my Sprint account. Plus, I don't have a contract.

T-Mobile seems to have serious issues here when there is a storm, and given that we seem to be getting plenty of them lately, I wouldn't necessarily want to go in that direction. Verizon seems to have the best network around, but they are pricey, and I cannot get their night and weekend minutes to start before 9PM. Whereas, with Sprint, I can get them to start at 6. Six is so much earlier than nine. I even thought of going prepaid, but they nail you on the phone cost.

There really is no great solution.

Pass The Potatoes

"She's getting married."

"Really? That's great. I should call and congratulate her; it's what she's always wanted."

"Err ... you're not supposed to know."

"Oh. Well I guess this means I don't have to get her a gift."

I later related this situation to one of my friends.

"She's what?!"

"Yeah. Isn't that cool?"

"Wow."

"How long have they been dating?"

"I guess 3 or 4 months."

"Wow."

"Good times."

What is the Meaning of This??

"So you're saying I should keep blogging just for you?"

"Now you're getting it."

The problem for me and blogging lately is that more and more of my life is becoming unfit for public consumption. It is difficult to talk about my life and times while still omitting the parts of it that I wish to remain private. This being said, it is also hard for me to begin my emailing crusade to all of my friends again as well. For I don't know exactly where I want to start. For those of you that still might be reading, I do have a couple interesting items to relate:

Last week I received a resume for the receptionist position we are trying to fill *again*. It came complete with a head shot and reassurances that the applicant was presently functioning as president of her own company and had created the online store front for said company. Hmmm.... I decided to investigate. Just as I suspected, it's a porn site. Good times. We could never hire her, though; Christmas parties would never be the same.

I was informed that several students, at the university I teach at, wanted a pro rata rebate of their tuition, to cover classes that were cancelled and never made up as a result of Hurricane Wilma. Now, mind you, I had been told by the University that if I could cover all the material, I did not have to make up the classes. However, the school did not want to have to refund any money and as I hadn't made up one of the classes - I had to hold a make up class, after the students had already completed the final exam, *and* give them an extra credit assignment.

You're kidding. What in the world should I assign? There were so many administrative difficulties, as I knew a number of the students were not going to be able to attend the make up class at all, and some would be out of town until the end of the year. Moreover, the finals were terrible. I mean, simply dreadful. Who knew so many people could not commit a coherent thought to paper?

I decided to assign a volunteer opportunity. Volunteer with one of these charitable organizations (like Habitat for Humanity) before the end of the year, and receive up to an additional 10 points (a full letter grade) on the final exam. It seemed fair. However, I have been getting emails from one student in particular, complaining that this assignment completely exceeds the scope of what I can assign for extra credit.

Oh, and the make up class that I was forced to hold, had a total of one attendee - one of my best students. Ridiculous.