My excuse for being delinquent....

I feel bad that I have not posted in awhile, but things around here have been really hecktic and out of whack. As some of you may remember, I had an issue in my basement a month ago and since then, I have been in renovation mode. The most recent project was the plumbing upgrade, a necessity as my house is over 55 years old and still had the original galvanized water pipes. Now although they were not leaking, the corrosion inside of them had restricted the flow of water in the house by as much as 75% depending on whether it was hot or cold water. The most amazing thing about galvanized pipe is how much buildup happens over time. I saw one section of pipe that when held up to a light, you could not see through. This was probably the reason why the hot water in the first floor bathroom ran at a trickle. It now comes out like a torrential rain, which is good, as my wife will now be able to take a nice bath when she feels like it. Plus, I will not have to worry about the pipes bursting due to corrosion and age.
With the plumbing done, I am now tearing out a section of drywall in the basement so that I can insulate the wall and also run speaker wire. This will hopefully be completed by Monday, which will allow for me to sand and paint the walls the following weekend, install additional lighting, put up the new ceiling, and then install some new carpet. Once this is complete, it is on to the backyard.

My other excuse for being delenquent on my blog is that I have been working on a presentation that I am going to give in Boston on Wednesday for IBM. It is a pretty cool deal as they want me to discuss on my views of the advantages of storage virtualization from a customers perspective to a bunch of media. The nice thing is thast I only need to speak for 20 minutes and that they are flying me 1st class to do it. It also looks really good for both my company and my resume.

The final topic for this evening is my views on the Terri Schaivo right to die case. I personally believe that we should treat humans like we treat our pets. That is, to put them out of their misery when they can no longer live a self maintaining productive, and pain free life. I know that I would never want to live in a persistent vegatative state, draininig my family both financially and emotionally, nor would I want to be kept alive by machines. Let me pass away normally, with some dignaty. I see not dignity in the Terri Schaivo's life. And what is with the Republican party. Why do they need to interfere in this case by attempting to pass more legislation? These are the same people who keep saying that we need to let the states have more control, and limit litigation. Then they go out and pass some stupid bill to allow for more court cases. This is why we need to listen to Thomas Jefferson and overthrow the government every so often. This is why we need to never vote for that corrupt, right wing wacko Tom DeLay.

Where in the world is John C, Part 5

When we last left our hero, he had just grabbed his luggage at the airport, but where is Megan? What is that rancid smell? Uh-Oh... where is the rest room? After reliving his colon of the spotted dick, John was now feeling refreshed and ready to find his love. Grabbing his luggage, John C rushed to the airport exit, hoping to find her waiting for him with open arms. Reaching the exit, he began his frantic search for his girl, but the area was overwhelmed with thousands of fans anxiously awaiting the arrival of Nia Vardalos, the star of the hit movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." It seems that after the movie, most unwitting American's came to believe that all Greeks were big, fat, and loud, and that the Atkins’ company, hoping to expand on it fame and profits from America's burgeoning waistline, decided to expand to Greece. They also figured that the best way to do it was with a Greek movie star, and being the extremely cultural Americans that they were, they found Nia Vardalos. She would go to Greece and show them that they too could be beautiful and glamorous movie stars if they followed the Atkins diet.With such a large crowd waiting for this Greek-American starlet, John began to despair. Would he ever find his love in this crowd? What else has Nia Vardalos done? Didn’t her T.V. sitcom flop? Then it hit him. What would they do in a movie? With this sudden spark of genius, John C jumped up on the counters and started running around singing "Love Will Keep Us Together," by Captain and Tennille. Shocked by this horrid rendition (or maybe it was just his choice of song), people in the airport became eerily quiet, and the crowds began to dissipate quickly. Still singing (the song is somehow over 3 minutes long) John began to think that his idea was not so good, especially when he saw Greek security charging at him with tasers. But, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something familiar. It was Megan. In the traditional run-to-your-lover scene, it looked as if all would be fine. John smiled and began to scream out her name in joy when suddenly he felt a sudden jolt and then.........

Please make sense of this.

Last evening Barbra and I went out with some friends (Ken, Joni, and TJ) for a few drinks at Bailey's in Dearborn. While there, we were joined by a couple of Joni's female friends, one of which looked like she was an investor in Dow Corning. She came in wearing an outfit which included a low cut shirt which really accentuated her breasts, i.e. they were out there for the world. I know what some of you are thinking-- Brian, you are a perv, but I was exonerated by my wife who stated, as were left the bar, that she could not help but stare at this woman's breast. It was like a train wreck, you just had to look. Now that I have given you this background, I must tell you the good part. This endowed young lady decided to get up to go powder her nose, and while she wad gone, she was apparently "hit on" by a few men. Now, we are at a bar on a Friday night, so I would expect something like this to happen to an attractive woman, but I was apparently incorrect. It seems that this is not the type of place where one hits on women, as it was stated by the group of girls that had joined us. You see, baileys is a sports bar, and therefore is not a place for picking up women (guy's take note). So I tried to get more detailed information on why this is so, but I never received a clear answer. So, I am posting two questions to the blogging community. First, please provide a breakdown of proper bar etiquette, categorized by bar type, and then day of the week? Secondly, if you are going out, and have no interest in drawing attention to yourself by those of the opposite sex, why do you wear sexy and very revealing clothing? Please let me know.

Where in the world is John C.

Today I took John C to the airport for his exciting adventure to Greece. He seemed excited, and a little nervous (especially about forgetting something). I told him not to worry about it and that as long as he has a credit card and his passport, he will be fine. So he is off to the old world, and to make the next 8 days more interesting, I have decided to put out a little blogger challenge. Each day, on your blog, write a short post on where in the world is John C. I will be the first to start.

March 9, 2005
Today, John C has departed from the delightful Detroit Metro Airport to Athens, Greece on the very comfortable and high-tech Boeing 777. Right now, John is enjoying blissful conversation with a very nice elderly lady sitting to the right of him. She happens to be of foreign decent and has not washed herself in 5 days , but John tries not to take notice. To the right of John are two young children who have just finished off their eighth or ninth can of jolt cola, and have begun to feel the effect of their confines. John sighs as he realizes that he has another 3204 miles left in this flight, and that there is no possible way for either the lady to wash herself, or for him to throw the two children out of the plan. Fortunately for him, he knows that once he reaches his final destination, he will be rewarded for all of his patience. For now, he will just have to sit back, put on his head phones, listen to some music, and try to read about the culture of his final destination. Maybe he will get lucky and have a chance to get some shut-eye before his lay-over in London. For now he can only hope, and try to breathe through his shirt.

A blog to blog

I have been meaning to blog over the last few days, but I have just not had the energy to do so. As some may know, I am still recovering from the great backup of 2005 at the place I have come to know as the money pit – or better known to everyone else as my house. It is not as if my house is bad or anything, it is just getting to that stage in its life where things are in need of replacement or cleaning – just like an old person. For example, two years ago, the top shingles of the roof blew off during a wind storm. I equate this to balding. The latest snaking of the plumbing lines is like removing the blockages in someone’s arteries after years of fast food. OK, enough about that. Today, my dad and his buddy came over and upgraded my breaker panel in my house to one that has room for 30 circuit breakers. It was really cool of him and his buddy (both journeyman electricians) to take the time to do this for me. Not only did they save me $500+, but they also rearranged some of the wiring so that the load is more evenly distributed, i.e. fewer popped circuits. On top of this, they ran me a 220 line in the basement so that I can put in some baseboard heat. My dad is cool like that. Now, if all goes well, the plumber will be here this weekend to replace the galvanized pipes with nice stable copper ones. Then, once this is complete, I will install the new lighting, heat ducts, paint, and then put up the new ceiling. This should be in just in time for my good friends Jason and Sung to arrive in town during their annual Midwest visit.
For those who do not know them, Jason and Sung are good friends of mine who moved to Seattle, WA about 7 years ago. When they lived here, they used to be the ones who setup the social events for the week, i.e. we had a lot of fun. On to p of this, Jason and I used to mountain bike together, which was a blast. I really miss them and I have admittedly been lame in not visiting them in Seattle. I constantly wish that they would move back to the Detroit area, so that we could hang again although I know that it would be different as they have a son now.
In other news, my friend Ken is trying to convince me to go climbing in Yosemite in late May. In all honesty, there is really not much convincing that has to be done to me, but I really cannot justify another trip without my wife. Now, if she were to say go, it would be another thing off of my “things I have to do before I have kids list,” which would put us another step closer to that scary parent thing. OK, I am in no rush to have kids, so maybe that is why I am not pushing this trip. Granted, I really, really, really, really want to go. I have been to Yosemite many times, but I have never had the opportunity to climb there, so this trip would rock if I could go. I guess we will see.
Finally, my best friend John is leaving for Greece tomorrow. I never thought he would leave the country, as it is like pulling teeth to get him to leave the state, but I guess this girl must be really special for him. I am actually happy for him, as she sounds like a really interesting person, and she seems to make him honestly happy. I hope that he has a good flight, and that they have a great time together.
Well, enough banter for the evening. Till next time.