I figured out life

after going to the gym, i made an important life-changing discovery while i was driving back home. the thought process was simple. my arms were tired from triceps/shoulders day and then it hit me in the head. the absolute of life is that it's all about working out your arms. the secret to life is now unveiled for everyone to realize. maybe this is just the guy's secret to life, but it should work for everyone. it doesn't really matter how big your arms are or become; it only matters that they feel like they must be huge after exercising them. now it's time to go forth and realize the my discovery.

Look who's streaking!

look, it's another DC area college basketball team in the NCAA tournament's final 4. it reminds me of the wizards, who have consistantly been in the playoffs the last few years. so the basketball in the DC area has certainly blossomed after a little break. is it just coincidence that basketball in this area is flourishing on different levels soon after i moved to the area? it's not like the university of kentucky has fallen flat on their game since i left the indiana/louisville area, right? oh, maybe it has. it's not like the pacers have gone from the conference finals every year to an average basketball team since i left....oh wait. hold on a second. that did happen.

ok, so maybe it's a stretch, or maybe it's just good observation. but it is nice to be in an area with strong basketball programs making the postseason exciting, even if the wizards are trying to give up their division lead to shaq before they make the playoffs for the 3rd straight season. although i won't and didn't root for the wizards over the cavs, and can't root for georgetown to beat ohio state, losing in these situations still feels a little bit like still winning, just not as sweet. on the other hand, this i do know: the wizards definitely won the recent offseason transactions. the cavs overpaid for larry hughes with the amazing bargain the wizards got on deshawn stevenson.

Weather update: Working is for the birds

This last week was a strange week. I used 5 hours of leave and ended up only having to work 15 of 40 normal work hours. My schedule allows me to work 4 - 10 hour days, so I naturally get one day off (Monday). I also got Friday off, because this coming Monday (Presidents Day) is a holiday, so my day off moves up one day. This left only 30 possible hours and 25 hours after my mid morning dentist appointment on Tuesday.

I only stayed at work about an hour and a half on Tuesday because we were sent home early due to the winter weather outside. Part of the time was my lunch, so there was only about an hour of worktime. Half of that time was starting my computer and reading work emails; the other half was everyone debating if we'd end up going home early and checking OPM's website to see if it was going to happen.

Wednesday started with a 2 hour delay because of road conditions; I actually was at work for 8 full hours. Thursday was a full 10 hour day, but with class from 8:30 - noon, and a short drive there and back, I only had about 6 work hours that day. Eight + one + six is fifteen work hours for the week. The previous week, we were sent home early on Tuesday because of a water problem (we had no running water in the building), so it was only a 1.5 hour day for me. I have no idea what I'll do next week when I have to return to 4 - 10 hour days.

Cheap Skating - Rite Aid

if you know me, then you know i REALLY prefer to buy things at a discount if possible. if you don't know that, then you probably don't really know me. rite aid offers a monthly rebate check for specific items that qualify for their rebates, and this week was a nice week for me to get paid for buying a few items. my purchase was 5 things, and i used 4 coupons. my total with tax was $6.41 for a bottle of conditioner, 2 neutra-air spray cans, 1 pack of 25 windex wipes, and a 48 count package of cough suppressing mint strips. my rebates for this purchase totaled $7.98, so the sunday newspaper gets paid for, too. coupons saved me $5.99 on this purchase.

by now you are either thrilled that this is possible and actually happens or wondering why it's even worth the effort. as a graduate with a math & statistics degree, it is more of a game to me. a similar game occurs each week at cvs, too, and i have a feeling the cvs game will be explained in the future.

remember when? - walmarts

i know i'm in the process of changing from a young man to getting old now that i have to reminisce about the past after taking a trip to my local ghetto walmart. at least i can still remember, so i shouldn't quite be at old yet. remember when walmart wasn't a guaranteed ghetto experience in any largely populated area? i could just be delusional, and walmarts were always this way, but i don't recall noticing it all the time when i was more youthful.

i still don't know why walmart is allowed to sell anything that can be used as a weapon. there are plenty of angry people as it is, so after entering somewhere like walmart, why should they have access to instruments which have the potential to be used for attacking the folks who decide to bump into them, generally not look where they're going, or seemingly make a point to take up as much of an aisle as possible?

and at what point did the stores turn into a big pile of merchandise? i remember when the merchandise used to be organized and on shelves, but now the new style requiring everything to be on the ground and in a big pile to sift through seems to be a mandatory walmart concept. for easter egg hunt lovers, this may be a good thing, but it is not a positive experience for more-organized people who may not want to swim through products like uncle scrooge mcduck in a vault of gold coins.

i remember when walmart was convenient and saved time instead of shopping at several stores. now it takes the same amount of time and more stress to use walmart more exclusively for shopping. it wouldn't be a good idea for me to even start on the tire & lube department of walmart stores. let me just say i don't quite understand the conversion from walmart hours to regular everyday hours, because a walmart estimate of 3 hours obviously means at least 4 or 5 hours in regular time.

i hope my local walmart is more ghetto than yours, for your sake.