Personal

I wasn't aware that something like that could happen.
I practically slept all day, unintentionally, and woke up right before SNL's TV Funhouse marathon.
Now I'm awake and really should be sleeping, but the stuff coming out of me is nasty.

My friend Jorge sent over a link to an amazingly little game. The concept is simple, but I'm pretty impressed with how fluid the swarm routine is. If anything, download it to check out how fast the swarm surrounds things. It is great mindless fun either way.

http://www.experimentalgameplay.com/game.php?112368

This reminds me of when I first met her.
After 2 kids, she was up to 36J.
Believe it or not, they actually make a bra that size.
The back problems should be gone now too.

A few years ago, 2 friends of ours ended up getting married and my wife and I were the first ones to get access to the wedding reception guest book. I had since forgotten about doing this but while they were packing up their house to move, they stumbled upon their wedding guest book and went through it again.

This time though, they noticed that when I signed the guestbook, in the comment section, I put in big bold letters, "FIRST POST!!!11!!!", much like the overused internet cliche.

Apparently they were laughing so much tonight that their cheeks were hurting, so I guess that means mission accomplished.

Since the new work building is very close to M-6 (South Beltline), I wanted to see what the recommended route was from Troy to the new building, and M-6 finally showed up on the mapping software provided by Yahoo maps / NavTeq.

Only took a few years.

I'm hoping other mapping providers start using M-6 for routes because it is a great way to avoid 28th street.

To quote some other lyrics, "Snakes are shedding and so am I"

My car lepersy seems to be subsiding and I've got a 2005 Dodge Neon to call my own. Low mileage, and there are a lot of fanatics that are helpful over at http://www.neons.org

I tend to keep cars until they no longer function. I did that with my original Dodge Colt in the high school and college days, to the Ford Aerostar, to the Dodge Stratus, and now I pan on pretty much doing the same with the Neon. The only difference this time is that the Neon only has 22k miles on it whereas previous cars usually already had over 50k on them. Even though we have 2 little ones, this car makes the sense for me since I drove the most overall and this gets well over 30 miles per gallon in a world with ever rising gas prices.

I looked into hybrids but unfortunately there seems to be a lot of waiting lists and cars going for more than retail. I am hoping my next vehicle will be some sort of hybrid and by that time, prices will have normalized and there will be a decent amount of supply to meet demand.

Thankfully with good credit, good home equity, and a clean driving record, I was able to get everything arranged pretty easily. Insurance wasn't much more than the 1999 Stratus because of the good crash test results of the Neon compared to the Stratus.

All in all, after a lot of research and tension, I think I made a good choice. It is also a reason I've been so silent the past few days. If I wasn't at work, I was researching cars and cleaning up the Ford Aerostar and Dodge Stratus for sale. When I was at work during lunch time, I was working on bank commitments.

Cassandra have been over in Troy ever since her breast reduction surgery happened last Monday. Normally, you'd expect the husband/guy to revert back to a bit of a nomadic existance while the kids and wife are away. Instead, I've spent most of my time either working on projects that have been long delayed at work, or trying to figure out what the best car replacement is for my Stratus.

Some may say I've been obsessing over getting just the right car, but these are decisions I don't take lightly because I tend to hold onto cars until they fail. I ran my first car, a Dodge Colt, into the ground after years of commutes between Lansing and Grand Rapids. After about 170k miles, the transmission finally died. I'm running into the same thing with the Stratus right now.

It doesn't help that everyone is over in Troy while I'm doing this. I've been a bit of a wreck, physically and mentally, trying to keep things together and keep people happy at home and at work. When I'm not working, or researching, I'm cleaning the house.

I also found out this weekend that a good chunk of the band Brother Cane are out on the road again with a few guys from Queensryche (who I never really cared for) and Sweaty Nipples (who I loved, from Oregon). Brother Cane in the mid 90s did one of the best covers of 'Whippin' Post' at the Orbit Room and I own and have worn out all of their Virgin records releases. Either way, I am happy to see and hear that they are out and about as 'Slave to the System'.

They are playing at the Intersection tonight but I am still gathering mortgage papers so I can use some of our home equity to get a new car. I can't say enough good things about my employer right now because they are letting me use the company car as my own until I find some type of transportation. A lot of places would not go out on a limb like that for their employees.

If I am lucky, I will be able to catch the show at the Machine Shop in Flint next Saturday, the night before Easter. I'm sure they are putting on a great show tonight, because Brother Cane was always a great live act, and this new CD has a lot of great songs on it.

Please contact me if anyone knows where I can find any. Kosher Coke comes out around Passover time and is made with real sugar cane instead of corn syrup. It is the only time I typically will drink a non-diet soda. It is harder and harder to find Mexican Coca Cola these days so this time of the year is the only time of year I can have my own little indulgence of diabetes-causing goodness.

Some people like cigars. Some people like beer. I like soda in a glass bottle made with sugar cane, especially Dublin Dr. Pepper.

It is the ultimate stocking stuffer, outside of a severed foot.