It's My Birthday and I'll gripe if I want to

It's Woodrow Wilson's birthday. It's Denzel Washington's birthday. And it's my birthday, too. And I'm at work. As I figure, this is the third time in 29 years of working that I've worked on my birthday. I don't mean to bitch too much, but getting out of bed sure is hard to do.
My friends want to take me out drinking tonight, but they've all got tomorrow off. I have to work, yet again. And I'm just too damn busy. I'm hosting the annual knee-walking drunk new year's eve bash this year, and there's much to do at the Ranch.

Catchin' up to do

Well, well. Skipped a couple months there. Went off and bought my first house in Sept and have been busy as hell with it ever since. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom "manufactured" home with a stand alone, stick-built 2-car garage on 3/4 of an acre. The lot is sort of wooded on two sides, and has a long privacy fence down the third side, so my backyard is relatively private.

The garage is what tweaked my interest in this place. The inside is basically unfinished, yet insulated. So, I've hung lights, put up some outlets and laid in places for ceiling fans. Just this past weekend, my buddy and I hung a pull-down set of aluminum attic stairs. There's a long way to go to turn this place into a functional wood shop, but it is well on it's way.

By "functioning" I mean income generating, too.

I've made my first mortgage payment so, only 29 years and 11 months to go!

Once a month is not enough

Geez...I had lots of stuff to bitch about until I started this damn thing. Now that it's up and running, I don't write much. Does that mean I don't think much?

Anyway: I came across an article that Men's Health magazine had determined the top 100 "Angriest" cities. And oddly enough, Orlando, Florida is number 1! Which seemed to surprise the author of the story, since "Orlando isn't even amajor military target". The first thing that ran through my head is "what the fuck has that got to do with it?"..Is everybody trying to steer our attention via the threat of terror?

Later on this evening, I have to admit that I thought Orlando could be a target. Imagine the blow to the American psyche if Disney World were suddenly turned into a glass bowl. Scary thought, isn't it? Oh, I bet thousands of parents the country over would breath sigh of relief by not having to go through with the promised trip that they couldn't afford.

Things you don't always hear.....

"It's one of those days when it's just too hot to buy a fuzzy rat"

My friend Vickie on a recent outing to the flea market. Happy Independence Day, y'all.

Surviving 6-6-06

I see blogger is back. I came to post some monthly drivel about June 6, and couldn't get here.

Other than that, nothing much to report. Still unemployed and looking. Still not paid for my trip to Hungary. Still not surprised about that, either.

But I had to get here to keep up my once-a-month routine, so far.

ciao

Time's a wastin

Whew...I need to find a job so I can slow down a bit. It's been good having all this "free" time. I've gotten lots of those "to do one day" things done. I've been damn busy. I've had some fun and the weather couldn't be any better. But, I am getting to that point where a paycheck coming in would be a good thing.

Too bad I haven't figured out that minimal work required at home make 6 figures job yet.

Long time, no catch-up

Heh, I have more free time and spend less time online. It's a beautiful thing. Got back from my foreign adventures. Spend 4 days camping and listening to bluegrass/Americana music. A much needed respite. Spent a week with the parents. Working in the gardens and making sawdust. Spent a week looking for a job. Spent another few days with the parents and making sawdust. And now here I am.

Dammit, dammit, dammit. Spent three days building a new DVD holder for my collection. Found I am missing a DVD I know damn well I ordered. "My Name is Nobody" starring Henry Fonda and some Italian western star. It was just on Turner Movie Classics. And I don't have the DVD in the rack. Where the hell did it go?

Ya gotta love the intar web

I was able to do things from a hotel room in Hungary that just struck me as incredible.

One, I was able to surf, and apply for, jobs in Raleigh 4500 miles away.

Two, (my favorite), I was able to order parts from a warehouse in California, for a PC that I will build in Raleigh, and have them shipped to my parents' house in Fayetteville.

All without talking directly to anyone. Of course, that might also explain how people get ripped off on a daily basis, too.

Nearly the End..

It's Saturday....I leave here Monday for Vienna, Austria..and then leave Vienna for DC Tuesday morning. Maybe this time it won't be so cloudy and I can catch a glimpse of the Alps. I looked into way of spending more time in Vienna, as is usual working with this particular manufacturing company (a European branch of my former employer) the schedule is A.F.U. and I have to be there Monday...even for half a day.

A long overdue shout out to the guys at Camp Adder in Iraq. I see one of the guys likes Hooters' wings. When he gets back, I'll have to intertroduce him to Highbeams' wings...and the staff. He'll forget all about Hooters.

I haven't found a single souvenier to take home from my visit to Hungary. It's not like this city is set up for tourists. Though I'm sure I could find something if only I got out and looked. I'm just not inspired to do so. Though it is nice that we've now had 3 sunny days in a row. Hungary is known for three things I can think of, good food, Paprika, and wine. I've eaten the food, I'm not going to buy paprika here to take home, and I don't know crap about wine. Maybe, when I get home, we'll look for a nice Hungarian red and have a cookout with my attorney. I see some handmade lace thingies down in the lobby of the hotel but I think it's just a display Hungarian heritage. Maybe I should read through the damn tourist books I bought before I left?

Oh, and then there's "Palinka" and "Unicum". Palinka is a "brandy" made from different fruits. Like 'Barackpalinka' is called Apricot schnaps/brandy in the room's minibar menu....and I've had a peach version and a plum version. Both taste, to me, like they have a hint of tequilla to them. Others in the group said whiskey. I know whiskey...and I know tequilla...and that was tequilla. "Unicum" is some sort of spicey liquor made from roots...sounds too much like Jagermeister to me so I'll pass on that.

Pepsi Cola is big here for some reason. Though I can get Coca Cola at work, so I'm covered there.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Tuesday evening. Back home where I can understand everyone, at least what they're saying. I hope I have the energy to do two things:
Pick up a couple of Hershey's bars with almonds, and get a steak dinner with a real salad. Beats the crap out of me, but that's what I'm hungry for.

Nose Hairs!

Great. I thought I'd taken care of at least this personal grooming problem before I left the USA. I don't know if it's the difference in weather - the humidity here is like %10 or so...so frickin dry I can barely drink enough water during the day to keep up......or it's just the season itself...but I know I trimmed the buggers back before I left...and I wake up this morning to a shrubbery!..and no scissors of suitable size.
Oh, and they are all attached to some critical portion of my brain so I get that extra little pain when I yank the bastards out.

But it sure is nice to be able to breath through my nose again.

What the F is keeping me up?

Here it is early morning in a Hungarian town, and yours truly is wide awake. Could it be those two tiny damn cups of "coffee" I had after dinner? Cups? I'd say enthusiastic thimbles! And they didn't taste like they had a lot of caffeine in them. Dessert was a local specialty that consisted of thin pancakes wrapped around banana slices and ice cream..with chocolate syrup..not really a whole lot of sugar. And hell, I had two beers with dinner. I've been working steadily all day long...I should be tired.
It could be the fact that I've just made up my mind to pass on this "opportunity" of working over-seas for the rest of the year. And I've gone on from that to figuring out how to explain my history at my former employer and what led to where I am today. And it's a pretty convoluted story. What with non-disclosure rules and stuff like that. I thought I might just get up and write it down. That, and eventual e-mail letting certain parties know that I've chosen at this late juncture to turn down this opportunity.
And I just can't go to sleep. Maybe it's a good thing...it may be 3a.m. here..but it's only 9p.m. back home...a time I would normally be awake. But, there's another week until I go home. dammit.

The Bells, the Bells!

I don't yet know if this is a typical Friday night thing. I don't know if it's a Catholic thing. I don't even know if it's just an Easter thing. At around 9:15pm here in this Hungarian town, the church bells started ringing..and ringing...and they're still going some 20 minutes later. Granted, tomorrow is Easter Sunday, so it may be something special.

At least they don't ring out every hour and quarter-hour like one of my Dad's clocks with it's Westminster chimes.

And it's not that I don't like bells. The Methodist church very near my apartment rings out 6pm every day. And probably more things that I've just learned to tune out.

But these are the old, huge, loud bells...and the church is maybe a block away.

I hope to get a decent day out there and take a picture of the church. The weather here has been mostly gray and cloudy. It was sunny earlier today, but I'm dealing with a major case of Spring Head..so I slept through most of the day.

The eve of the Grand Adventure

Yup, I'm off to Washington DC tomorrow, and then off to Hungary. Yes, Hungary over in Eastern Europe. I was excited, but now I'm nervous. And I'm realizing what effects an over-seas job will have on my personal life. And I'm surprised that I don't like it. But I hope to have fun on my travels. Why else would I take the opportunity?

Too Much time on my hands

I think I fucked up. A couple days ago I bought a 1000 piece puzzle of the Mona Lisa. Why? Damned if I know. I do know I wanted a picture of her face to try to transform into a scroll saw pattern. But 1000 pieces? Just after I got the border pieces all put together, it ocurred to me to scan in the picture on the box...and I've got the picture I needed. But I still have this dam puzzle to put together.

And what the phuque is with all the Da Vinci Code tie-in stuff? I know there's a movie..but it don't come out for some time yet.

So, I've been un-employed for what? 3 weeks now?..and I've been busier than I ever was when I was working. I guess because when I was working, I could ignore all the "round-tuits" laying around the apt. Today it was vacuuming...tomorrow it's the bathroom. And the bank. And the Passport office. Because I won't be un-employed for much longer.

Too much excitement for a Thursday night

It's 10:30pm Thursday night, and this is the view out my bedroom window:



As a former volunteer firefighter, I have seen this, er, scene, too many times. As an apartment dweller, this is the first time I've seen it up close and personal in my own complex.
Luckily, I don't think many people lived in that end of that building. Most of the units are being remodeled. I'll put it like this: Nobody left in an ambulance.

Hmmm, it's even more exciting in infrared - a.k.a digital camera with flash turned off:

I'm Free...and Curious

I just recently became a "free man"...my way of saying "unemployed". It was a shitty way to get removed from the company pay roll. But, it's for the best. I should have left that job some time ago. I'm just curious how deeply they'll probe my PC. I didn't get the chance to wipe any links...and some e-mails. To the best of my recollection, there's nothing there to worry about as I kept it pretty professional. However, there are links to here, and elsewhere. Little lunchtime amusements that I used to visit.

Ah well, the ride goes on.

Funny thing, that day, I had decided to listen to some Dead music on the commute, rather than my usual custom CDs. I chose "Working Man's Dead". It was probably the best drive into work I've had in some time.

"We spent some time on the mountain,
Spent a little time on the hill,
Saw some things we didn't understand,
But I'm sure, given time, we will"

A Quote I want to remember

“It is not known with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”

~Albert Einstein

Nothing wrong with a good weekend

At least I don't think there is. The weekend started off Friday night with me being fed up with humanity and investing in a fifth of Jack Daniel's Black label. Just planned on hunkering down at the Ranch and watching the world go by. And occasionally flipping it off on the way by. The key to a "good" evening of this sort is to respect the liquor. Only drink enough to get to a good point..and then maintain that level throughout the night. So the next morning, there is no hangover.

Next morning plans were "Flea market", Science Museum "The Brain", beers somewhere with friends, and then home for the evening.

Found a new tie-dye at the flea market and Spring is coming.

Learned some things about my brain, and perception at the museum.

Swung by the capitol building. My friends have both lived here 20+ years and neither had been there. I went a couple years ago on a "playing tourist in my hometown" adventure. I wanted to go again now that the re-modeling is finished. It was very nice.

Picked a sports bar that none of us had been to, but that I had read of in one of the local web-pages showing off local places to go. A tad proud of their products, but a buckets of micro-brew beers I'd never heard of. And the last Wolfpack game of the season was on TV as well. So, three buckets of beer (5 beers to a bucket)and a meal later..and the Pack getting embarassed again ...and back to the Ranch. Overall, a relaxing weekend with good friends.

Sunday was just lay about the Ranch, nap when needed, eat when needed, and watch movies until the Oscars came on...and watch another movie. What can I say? I like my "new" surround sound set up.

Catchin' up on some things

Man! I've got to quit screwing around and write things down as they occur to me.

Over the weekend: Feb 26-27 we lost Darren McGavin and Don Knots. Don Knots we all knew as Barney Fife, or as I remember him from *my* boyhood the professor that turned into a dolphin in that Disney movie, whatever it was.

Then, Monday, we find out that Dennis Weaver died. He played McCloud, a country boy detective in the big city. He was also in that Stephen Spielberg movie "Duel" where a trucker driving a tanker truck seems to be hell-bent on harrassing Weaver's character in a classic case of road rage gone bad. (Wow, I never realized that was a Spielberg movie until I looked it up on IMDB just now.

Monday at work: Donate blood around 11:30. Donating blood is nothing new for me, been doing it for years...but it has been a while. Hike across campus to my truck and go off to Chic-Filet for lunch. A large lunch compared to what I usually have, but there was nearly a quart of Coke involved. Come back to work and start typing away on an Excel project. Around 1:30 things start getting fuzzy, and the cube starts spinning around. So, I dive to the floor, lay on my back, and prop my feet up. Felt a little better. May have even passed out for a short time. I was sweating a cold sweat, regardless. Felt like I might throw up, too. Gathered my wits and made a drunken path to the restroom. Didn't throw up, but did sit there for a while doing something else....with my head between my knees and cold sweat dripping off my forehead onto the floor. Not a pleasant time to keep your head between your knees. But I was starting to feel better. Wasn't so much of a stagger getting back to my cube, but I still felt like remaining horizontal would be best. Was supposed to have a performance review with my boss, so I called him, filled him in on the situation, and he freaks....calls HR guy to check on me. They call the Blood Mobile people to come get me....I hang out in the Blood Mobile for about 45 minutes, and I'm back to work.

I'm on medications for high blood pressure. One of them makes me light-headed and dizzy anyway. Donating blood lowers your blood pressure. Digesting a large meal lowers your blood pressure ( or at least redirects your blood flow?)..and then there's the post-prandial desire to nap a bit..that lowers your blood pressure. Judging from the readings before I donated, and the reading after they got me to the Blood Mobile, there was at least a 20 point swing in my blood pressure...so I know the "bottoming out" reading was even lower.

First time in 20 years of donating that the "nurse" missed the fucking vein in my arm. They're fucking huge. First time in 20 years of donating that I've ever passed out after donating blood. Hell, it's the first time I've even felt any after-effects.

Monday night: Okay, so I live in an apartment. I used to be a volunteer fire-fighter in another life time. I don't trust toaster ovens, drip coffee makers, regular toasters, or any of my neighbors, for that matter. I've been to too many fires started by any one, or a combination of those factors. I'm doing my books and paying bills at the computer when I suddenly smell this horrid unidentifiable stench...but I recognize it as a "burning" stench.
I check the dryer...not coming from there.
I check the kitchen....not coming from there.
I check out the front door to the intra-apartment landings....not coming from there.
I check out the back door to the woods.....not coming from there.
I finally notice that the fat juicy raisin-sized fly is no longer buzzing about the apartment. Because he is currently smoldering under the 300 watt halogen bulb in the lamp I use to light up the apartment when I'm doing detail work. Whew! what a smell.


Today (Wednesday) - day two of not taking the medication that made me feel so crappy in the first place. And I can already feel a difference. A better difference.

What's my life path number?

Your Life Path Number is 3

Your purpose in life is to express your unique self. You are a creative and artistic person with an interesting view on life. Witty and outgoing, you enjoy sharing your crazy ideas with anyone who will listen. A total social butterfly, you're the life of any party. In love, you inspire and enchant your partner. You are often an object of fantasy and desire. While you are very talented, you sometimes lack the ambition to put your talents in play. And while your wit carries you a long way, you occasionally use it to mask your true feelings. Your natural abilities can bring you all the success in the world ... if you let them

What Is Your Life Path Number?

Comments from the cheap seat: Some it is right, some of it is wrong.

President's Day Long weekend

Ah, I enjoy those long weekends where I have a plan and the plan gets executed, along with a few beers. Years of apartment living have made me tend toward keeping things temporary. Even after 5 years in one apartment. This weekend was dedicated to a more permanent installation of my surround system speakers. Until now, I had the speakers wired and stuffed up under the entertainment center. To watch a movie, I would first trot out the speakers and set them on the table behind the couch. After the movie, or quite often, the next day, I would shove the speakers back under the entertainment center and roll up the wiring and toss it behind the entertainment center.

This had to change.

So, this weekend, I put a shelf on the wall opposite the entertainment center. I then installed the rear surround speakers onto that shelf, and ran the wires neatly along the creases in the wall to the rear of said entertainment center. Once it was all connected, I proceeded to abuse the heck out of my surround sound system by watching various action/sci-fi programming. Next up, I'll have to avail myself of George Lucas' THX adjustment program available on nearly every Star Wars disk. Right now, its set mostly by ear.

Of course, this grand attack did not come without cost. My "Center for advanced computing" was, and still is, located along that same wall. In order to mount said shelf, and route said wires, the CfAC had to be dismantled. That's two computers, scanner, turn-table and cassette recorder and at least a year's worth of accumulation that had to be taken apart. A 3-1/2 ft by 8 ft "desk" if you will.

Good news - the CfAC was successfully re-assembled, re-cabled, and re-animated with no loss of data, patience, spilled beer, and I didn't accidentally let the smoke out of any of the electronic devices.

Bad news - That "year's worth of a accumulation" is still piled in one corner of the apartment and needs to be dealt with. It could take weeks.

It's the Year of the Dog

Really. Happy Chinese New Year. Not that I'm Chinese. However, I was invited to a Chinese Lion Dance yesterday. Good thing I went as they needed someone to video tape the dance.

Mom takes classes in Tai Chi. Her instructor, or "seifu" is from China and a wonderful person. He and some of his premiere students (he also teaches Hop Gar, and a couple of other forms) will generally spend the weekends in February performing the Lion Dance. The Lion Dance is a ceremony designed to scare away evil spirits and bring prosperity to the place, or people, the dance is performed for. In this case, it was a Chinese restaraunt near where I live. Both my parents and my sister came from out of town, as well, to watch and I got to be the "native guide" so to speak.

It was freakin cold and windy, and the local Caucasians were all confused and nosy. That's to be expected in that area. The ceremony involved about 2000 firecrackers, a drum, two sets of cymbals, a trident, a head of cabbage, and of course, the Lion. The firecrackers, the drums and cymbals, and the cabbage are used to lure the Lion to the place of the ceremony. After the firecrackers finish, the Lion "eats" the cabbage and tours the crowd. If the Lion spits cabbage on you, it will bring you luck and prosperity. The Lion is then guided into the place of business where he needs to make one complete trip around the place and is then allowed to leave. Drums and cymbals going the whole time. And this ceremony was performed at 12:30 on a Sunday...so there were plenty of confused Westerners in the restaraunt at the time. Hee, hee.

Apparently, the restaraunt owners really appreciated the Lion Dance because we all got a free lunch...even those of us that showed up mostly to watch. And I think I did a pretty good job with the video. I should find out later when Dad reviews the tape to copy for the class...and we can hear the audio.

Now that I think of it, they may want to delete some of that audio...I had a running commentary about some of the idiotic things the confused Westerners in their oversized capitalist pig vehicles were doing as they drove by, or sometimes through, the ceremony.

Interesting Blog behavior

Maybe someone from Blogger will read this:

I cannot view my own damn blog from home. 403 Access forbidden. I do not have permission to view "/" with the credentials I've supplied.

Excuse me, I'm just surfing in here like anybody else. What the fuck?..I can look at other people's blogs, I think.

Hell, I can't even view my own blog from within the Blog editor here at Blogger.

Real typical "help" on the help e-mail - "Read the FAQs, read the "Known Issues", and then "read the Status page". Why can't I find a link to the "status" page easily?..

It makes it very frustrating to take the time to be half-literate at this crap. To realize that there are known issues and a FAQ page....and explore all these options before resorting to writing a mail to the support staff...only to get the same old crap they'd send to a noob. Of course, they put that in place because of the shear weight of noobs out there that fire off a help mail without even looking around. Damn, the gene pool could sure use some chlorine about now.

Well.....he did die in prison....

Good old North Carolina - if I heard the news story right...and man that has been on Death Row for 26 years died in prison yesterday - of a heart attack! While he was sweeping the floor in one of the prison common areas.

Wow, multiple rapes, kidnappings, and murders. And this guy was still alive. The longest serving prisoner on death row. One open item was whether or not the guy was mentally retarded....who cares? He seemed to know what he was doing.

26 years. I moved to this area 26 years ago. I've had a paying job of one sort or another that entire time. I've been paying taxes that entire time. Some of my taxes to to pay for this guy's life in prison, Damn it!

Just had to get my speen out and vent it a bit this morning.

The pile of straw is getting heavy now..

and I'm tired of being a camel. Time to get off my lazy butt and find a new job. I've got a new manager... new to the company. I've been here 5-1/2 years...which, for this job, is 4-1/2 years too long. So this new guy. We have about an hour, total, of interaction time. He's jerked my chain, and probably thinks it's had some effect on my behavior here at work. And now he's scheduled a "performance improvement plan" meeting.

Kiss my ass.

I've spent the entire day considering my options....

1. Tell him right away to "Kiss my ass".
2. Attend the meeting and turn in my notice.
3. Attend the meeting and turn in my notice on Monday.
4. After turning in my notice, work the two weeks, and tell him to kiss my ass at the exit interview.
5. Find another job, and then turn in my notice.

The correct choice is obvious, but not the one I want to take.

In any case, I'm packing up my personal belongings from here at work this afternoon.

Gawd, I hate looking for a new job. I'm not even sure my suit still fits. Quit smoking, gained a few pounds...and damn, need another suit. Waait a minute..I just bought that suit this past summer...for an interview for a job I wasn't interested in.

I guess I'll go to the meeting, nod and smile, and spend the weekend doing the resume-to-Monster.com thing.

It's long past time for me to leave this current job, anyway.

Who's Spoiled, and Who's Not?

Last night, I happened to see a show called "House Hunters"….thought I'd watch it and maybe find some tips about looking for a home (a waste of time in that regard)…but this episode happened to take place in Cary, N.C. A software developer and his wife had moved to Cary and found this beautiful 2800 sq ft. house.

After 3-4 years, they have a baby….and at less than a year old on the baby, they decide they are "running out of room"

In a freakin 2800 sq ft house!....Holy crap!

My parents and I lived in a 900 sq ft house in Vienna, W.Va. True, it had a full, unfinished basement which served as dad's archery/wood shop, mom's laundry room, and a 1-car garage.

Hell, my sister was even born while we lived in that house, and had her own bedroom. I'm pretty sure the only reason we moved out of that house is that Dad got transferred to Texas.

Of course, I now live by myself in an 800 sq ft apt…and I'm running out of room…it's probably all those damn computers.

New Year's Resolutions can be detrimental to your health?

Yeah! Well, it's not really a New Year's resolution, so much as a desire to lose 25lbs by March. Although, when you begin a project like that in late October, it's pretty much useless to work on it with any will power until after Christmas Dinner. At least in my family.
Good news is, since the 1st of the year, I've been pretty good about exercising when I get home from work. And about going straight home from work rather than stopping for beers and wings along the way. Unfortunately, I've been having problems sleeping all night. I'd wake up around 3a.m. every morning.....lay there until I fell back asleep, and then sleep through the alarm clock and get to work late.
Last night, I tried something different. I got home, I changed to sweats, I opened a beer and made some finger food and I planted by butt on the couch. I even took a short nap at one point. I went to bed around 10:30p.m. and slept like a baby, the entire night.

I exercise for stress (okay, and weight loss) and they say a beer a day is good for stress. Heck, a doctor has recommended two beers a day (with water) to help keep me "flushed".

I should be in Nirvana. Not the "band" you idiot, the place/state-of-mind.

Numerology and your name

I like playing with these types of toys...just to see what comes out:

I entered: (FirstName MiddleName LastName) - the names have been changed to protect the innocent ;-)

There are 20 letters in your name.
Those 20 letters total to 92
There are 7 vowels and 13 consonants in your name.

Your number is: 11

The characteristics of #11 are: High spiritual plane, intuitive, illumination, idealist, a dreamer.

The expression or destiny for #11:
Your Expression number is 11. The number 11 is the first of the master numbers. It is associated with idealistic concepts and rather spiritual issues. Accordingly, it is a number with potentials that are somewhat more difficult to live up to. You have the capacity to be inspirational, and the ability to lead merely by your own example. An inborn inner strength and awareness can make you an excellent teacher, social worker, philosopher, or advisor. No matter what area of work you pursue, you are very aware and sensitive to the highest sense of your environment. Your intuition is very strong; in fact, many psychic people and those involved in occult studies have the number 11 expression. You possess a good mind with keen analytical ability. Because of this you can probably succeed in most lines of work, however, you will do better and be happier outside of the business world. Oddly enough, even here you generally succeed, owing to your often original and unusual approach. Nonetheless, you are more content working with your ideals, rather than dollars and cents.

The positive aspect of the number 11 expression is an always idealistic attitude. Your thinking is long term, and you are able to grasp the far-reaching effects of actions and plans. You are disappointed by the shortsighted views of many of your contemporaries. You are deeply concerned and supportive of art, music, or of beauty in any form.

The negative attitudes associated with the number 11 expression include a continuous sense of nervous tension; you may be too sensitive and temperamental. You tend to dream a lot and may be more of a dreamer than a doer. Fantasy and reality sometimes become intermingled and you are sometimes very impractical. You tend to want to spread the illumination of your knowledge to others irrespective of their desire or need.

Your Soul Urge number is: 9

A Soul Urge number of 9 means:
With a 9 Soul Urge, you want to give to others, usually in a humanitarian or philanthropic manner. You are highly motivated to give friendship, affection and love. And you are generous in giving of your knowledge and experience. You have very sharing urges, and you are likely to have a great deal to share. Your concern for others makes you a very sympathetic and generous person with a sensitive and compassionate nature.

You are able to view life in very broad and intuitive terms. You often express high ideals and an inspirational approach to life. If you are able to fully realize the potential of your motivation, you will be a very self-sacrificing person who is able to give freely without being concerned about any return or reward.

As with all human beings, you are prone to sometimes express the negative attitudes inherent to your Soul Urges. You may become too sensitive and tend to express emotions strongly at times. There can be significant conflict between higher aims and personal ambitions. You may resent the idea of giving all of the time and, in fact, if there is too much 9 energy in your nature you may reject the idea. You may often be disappointed in the lack of perfection in yourself and others.

Your Inner Dream number is: 11

An Inner Dream number of 11 means:
You dream of casting the light of illumination; of being the true idealist. You secretly believe there is more to life than we can know or prove, and you would like to be provider of the 'word' from on high.

Quotes for the day so far.......

Found while surfing the 'net....and I laughed:

There will always be one more imbecile than you counted on.

They say that if you line up all the cars in the world in one lane - some idiot will try to pass them.

When the chips are down....the buffalo is empty.

Thank goodness for Collegiate Athletics?

While I was in college, I wasn't that much of a fan of the home team...barring the national championship win. But now I've been out for a while, and am making the money needed to afford being a fan, I've had a lot of fun.

And unique experiences.

The first, and still greatest, was the overnight road trip with my brother to the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day a few years ago. Drive down, watch game, drive back, show up to work the next day.

The latest: A New Year's Eve party that started at 10:30a.m. since our bowl game was on at 11a.m. - and still being coherent at midnight. That might just be more old age and experience, rather than any kind of personal restraint.