Join the cause

I have a big problem. I am a night owl, and that's an understatement. I love staying up until 4 AM for no reason. I can do it any night of the week, but sometimes that happens when i don't want it to. Like Tuesdays. This has caused the death of many alarm clocks. When that little bastard starts chirping at 6:30 I just want to kill it. It forces me to develop a hatred of inanimate objects I normally do not have. Picture a caveman being awaken by a fire alarm and going nuts, strange grunts and looks of bewilderment included. That's a fairly accurate portrayal of my average morning. Everything in my path to shutting that annoying thing up will be destroyed. Headaches and grumpiness last until about 9, or my second cup of coffee at the office, whichever comes first. The first hour at work is always the toughest. All of those mornings people say "Hi, how you doing?, Good morning", etc. Do I respond honestly? No. Though I do reserve the right to not respond at all, or just stare at them like I don't speak English. Some people just know not to bother me until 9. After all, you cannot expect IT professionals to conduct business until caffeine levels have been raised significantly. It's worse when people call with stupid questions that early. I think I'm going to hang this on my office door.
OK, let me come to the point. If you are like me the playing field is hardy level during business hours. I spend 1/2 my time at work in a mild coma. Its not our fault we wake up after dark, we were just born that way. I'd like to open the argument of reversing the standard business hours every other week. Meaning next week we work from 8PM to 5AM. If nothing else it will put people in our position. When they feel like smacking you for being all upbeat and full of energy during that first hour of work you can just smile and laugh. Obviously the world is to set in their way to ever let an original idea like this ever come to the light of day, but wouldn't it be nice to get even- just once?

The Beer List

I was having a conversation with someone today about brew. She asked what my favorite was. Now this is a very hard question to answer, but I instinctively blurted out one of my staples. I have since decided I have several favorites and rather that a best to worst ranking, I need to rate them from 1 to 10. Here what I have off the top of my head. The only qualification here is that I have had at least one of each (that I remember) and all light beers suck, therefore are excluded.

Shiner - 10/10
Newcastle Brown Ale - 10/10
Sunshine Wheat 10/10
Sam Adam's Oktoberfest 10/10
SmithWick's 8/10
Dos XX Amber 8/10
Widmer 7/10
Sam Adam's 7/10
Pyramid Hefeweizen 6/10
Rahr Red 6/10
1554 Black Ale 6/10
Blue Moon 6/10
Ziegen Bock Amber 5/10
Dixie Blackened Voodoo 6/10
Becks Dark 5/10
Guiness 5/10
Sam Adam's Cherry Wheat 5/10
Stella 5/10
Warsteiner 4/10
Dos XX 4/10
Fat Tire 4/10
Ziegen Bock 3/10
Sunrise 3/10
Corona 3/10
Miller High Life 2/10
Coors 2/10
Budweiser 2/10
Bud Select 1/10

This list will be growing. I cannot think of them all right now, but feel free to suggest a few. However the rating will be left to yours truly.

Drink up

The Weekend Update

OK, no maybe its not the weekend. For some reason I was just thinking of that old skit on SNL with that Norm guy. It was always my favorite. I decided to take a sabbatical from blogging in June. There were some bad omens looming around and I didn't want any of you to get infected with some misdirected witchcraft. What has lifted my spirits? Its July. Know what that means? Football season approaches. I've also decided to quit taking things so damn seriously. I really haven't taken much time to enjoy myself lately.

Not all of you know this, but I took up jogging and eating better back in March (i think) For the longest time I wouldn't tell anyone how much weight I had lost. Call it supersticious if you want to, I just didn't want to jinx it because it was working so well. I kind of dropped the jogging routine due to the triple digit heat and my inability to get up and run in the A.M. The scale hasn't moved in a month so I figure I'll be here until it cools off a little. I also have not been very stringent on the diet over the past month, so I can't complain. If I removed the beer I'd probably be down to 200 by now, but I really like that stuff. (As a matter of fact I'm drinking a 1554 Black Ale right now) The final tally? 285lbs to 220lbs. I'll take it.

Houston trip

OK, so last week you know how I mentioned I was headed down to Houston for that graduation? I think I might have been a little inaccurate. It seems I headed down to Houston for a graduation party. The show started a little after 7 and we had a great time. Lots to drink, lots to eat, and a bunch of really cool people. We were pretty much trying to attract the cops with loud music and drunk people but they never showed up. It seems that if you get all of the neighbors drunk they are not able to call the police. All in all it was a good time, without an ounce of drama. At one point I cranked up the music in my truck...and left it that way for about 2 hours. The party lasted for a really long time and sunglasses were needed for the ride back to the hotel. After a couple of hours of sleep I had to get up and get to downtown Houston for the graduation. Luckily we had GPS and some of that headache powder stuff to assist with the commute. The only thing that got me through graduation was knowing that everyone else felt just as bad as I did. Especially the guy walking across the stage. We also did dinner with the family afterward and just hung out Sunday night. We all wanted to make another long night of it but none of us had the energy. We just sat around in a circle on the patio giving each other understanding stares that just said "yep, I feel like crap too. Entertain yourself" I hit the sack around midnight and got 7 glorios hours of sleep.

On a sidenote it turns out that going an entire weekend with a lowered immune system and hanging out with dozens of people can get you sick. I guess since I was at a crowded ballpark for 3 hours I'm lucky not to have swine flu.

Time Waster

You know those stupid web pages you see and think to yourself "what loser actually reads this crap?", shortly before you actually read the whole thing? Well I have found a good one. Not good in the sense that you will surely be addicted to it. Good in the sense that you will laugh at me for posting this. Yes its that bad, and yes I even bookmarked it. Luckily I have no shame. Here goes nothin'.

What did you think? Am I the only one that read at least 1/2 of it? The best part is that I wear boots to work every day. They don't have laces.

Graduation

My old roommate is graduating from Sam Houston this weekend and a buddy and I are headed down for the festivities. Saturday we are driving down to a little town called West. The best sirloin steak I've ever had resides in a small Slovakian steakhouse there. After that we are heading to college station. My buddy's cousin passed away in the A&M bonfire accident and he has never gotten to go to the memorial set up on campus. From there we are going to the hotel for a nap. This is needed for the pre-graduation kegger that will last until dawn. From there, in what will be a hungover stupor, we have to get to Minute Maid Park (where the Astros play) for the ceremony. Then its onto dinner and drinks at some hometown mexican joint, and then the long drive home late Sunday. My only thought-Will the other people look at me funny for drinking beer during a graduation ceremony? It is at a baseball park. I bet they have hot dogs too. Would that be bad form?

Miss Me?

Man, this blogging this is tough to keep up with. Usually by the time I have time to sit down at the computer and type up a little story its 9 or 10 in the evening and bumming out on the couch is a whole lot more appealing. I AM going to try and post a bit more frequently than I have been.

We will start with the results of my second trip to Oklahoma in as many weeks.
Lots of fishing-Check
Lot of eating the fish-Check
Beer drinking regardless of the hour-Check
Cards-Check
9-Ball-Check

Overall a very successful trip. I did have to get some gas just before crossing the red river, and yes it was again strange. It was one of those gas stations that looks normal, but hell no. Turns out it was one of those gas stations that sells everything, including clothes. I swear there were 2 guys checking out t-shirts on the rack and another one looking at CDs. Who in their right mind goes to the gas station for music and clothes? Yep, the weirdest people on Earth. OK, I feel better. One day maybe I'll tell you about the first horrid experience in that land locked 3rd world country.