10 to 6

well, a number of days ago was my birthday. some of the folk at work got me an xkcd t-shirt (based on this comic). (it’s okay if you don’t get it…it’s a joke based on a unix command.) it’s a shirt i really liked, so it was cool to get it as a surprise present. i also enjoyed lots of pie. i ate at armadillo palace with a couple of coworkers, and we shared a slice of their pecan pie (which is the best company-made pecan pie i think i’ve had). later, back at work, i had some pina colada cake with whipped cream and whole fresh blueberries and raspberries. (okay, it’s technically a cake and not pie, but it was mushed up and very wet…perhaps drowned in sweetened condensed milk…so that’s more pie-like.) in the evening i went to the house of pies and shared a slice of bayou goo. i rode around on my motorcycle, which was enjoyable. then later that night i had some cherry pie (also house of pies).
last wednesday i went by taurian after the radio show and got my ears stretched from 8 gauge captive hoops to 6 gauge captive hoops. the stretching seemed to go pretty well. (i didn’t nearly pass out or anything.) i went home, then i went to the house of pies with jamie and the hot russian chick from work. jamie was inside the loop for some reason, so she was looking for something to do and my birthday was a convenient excuse. which is part of the reason we ended up at the house of pies. the hrcfw had done a surprise drive-by to see my new hoops (and tell me i should stop doing that), so she went ahead and tagged along. after all of the pie i’d just had though, i opted for the fruit salad (which is surprisingly made of pretty good, fresh fruit — surprising seeing as it’s a diner and all, you know).
for the 4th of july, i celebrated america’s independence by eating south american food at amazon grill for lunch and mexican food at tacos-a-go-go for supper. i was originally supposed to watch fireworks with the potts clan from the roof of jack’s office, but they didn’t have the keys to the roof. so i bailed and came home instead. after the rockets’ red glare had dimmed, they texted me to see if they could come by to set off some fireworks at my house. i agreed. i got a cigar, turned up the country music on my porch speakers, and sat on the tailgate of my truck waiting for them. and waited. much later, they showed up. the younger two were already asleep by then, so jackson and dietrich got to play with some sparklers and stuff while i hung out with jack and sue and sue’s brother shawn (who is in town for the summer).
on saturday i got up and drove my bel air around a little. i then hopped in the pickup and went to meet jack and sue at saint arnold’s for the tour. on the way i stopped at target and picked up a picture frame and some new shades. the picture frame is for holding the original braderfly, which i am planning on giving to kelli (and brad).
saturday night i met jack and sue at the house of pies. (this time i got the strawberry waffle.) while there, sue said when they got to saint arnold’s they were walking up and jack said wistfully “man!  i remember when this used to free.”  and sue replied “uh, jack, it wasn’t that long ago.” sue and i started laughing, so jack said “well, you know, i’m not so good with realizing time and such.”  and we both looked at him and said “you think?!” later on, jack was telling a story and he said “one time, my mom was in hawaii” — but he sort of slurred it and it was hard to understand, so i took a poor interpretation of it and offered: “one time your mom was whoring?”  sue had just taken a big mouthful of water and she actually spewed it all over everything across the table.  including me. i don’t recall ever having someone do a spit take just like in the movies like that.  (although it’s probably happened and i just don’t recall it.) (you should follow that link, by the way.) about a minute later i said “oh man, remember that time back when you said your mom was in hawaii and i said ‘your mom was whoring?’ and sue spit water everywhere?” fortunately, sue didn’t have water in her mouth the second time.
as of tuesday, there is one less hot russian chick at work. yep, she put in her resignation with two weeks’ notice on monday. they locked her accounts and put her out on the street (with pay) on tuesday. she’s probably moving on to better things though (if the descriptions of her new job turn out to be true).
also on tuesday, i finally took the bike in to the shop for maintenance. i’m going to be getting an extensive service on it, as well as a new front tire, a state inspection, a replacement reflector on the front fork ($25 for a reflector?), and a replacement clutch assembly cover (since my Texas key ring jacked up the one on it now). afterwards, i went by an aaron brothers and bought some picture frames, as they are having their semi-annual (?) “buy one, get one for a penny” sale. i wanted to get a frame for the russian political poster i’ve been lugging around with me since 1996 or so. it’s a poster for the Либерально-Демократическая Партия России (liberal democratic party of russia, or ldpr) for Ð’. Жирино́вский (vladimir zhirinovsky)…i believe for the 1996 russian presidential election. i got this poster back in 1996 (or maybe 1997) from a russian engineer who was at johnson space center to work on the space station program. he also gave me a leather belt with a brass buckle with the hammer and sickle on it. (i think it is probably a generic military belt.) anyway, i guess he was a fan of a powerful, aggressive, proud russia. back then i had the poster up on my cubicle wall at lockheed martin. i’m not sure anyone knew what it was, really. all that to say, i’ve had it with me but i haven’t really taken care of it. so it’s sort of beat up. but i think maybe that just adds to its charm. sort of like russia. ; )
oh yeah. sue, who has decided my birthday is july 7th, baked some butterscotch chip oatmeal cookies for me. jack dropped them off tuesday evening. they’re mighty delicious. if you haven’t tried any, i highly recommend them.
and about that stretching that seemed to go well…my right ear (the one i got pierced at taurian a few years ago) is fine these days. my left ear…it’s not so happy. when i got it pierced by a gun back in 1991 or whenever, it took months to heal and i don’t think the skin really grew like it should have. so i’m not sure if the stretching ripped it or what, but it’s been at various stages of puffy, pissed off, and possibly infected over the last week. oh well. i assume it’ll get better at some point. hopefully it won’t take months though.
and now, i must be off to bed. for tomorrow, i have to attempt to stand in line and get myself a new apple 3g iphone.