.: bistan.net :.

This morning, I’m blogging from Butler Toyota.  I HATE car dealerships, but Kimberlie’s car needs an oil service.  I guess the economy has really hit these folks.

I can’t figure out why there’s so many car salesmen on duty at 10:00 on a Friday morning.  I’m no rocket scientist, but I would guess that most people who buy new (or used) cars have jobs.  On top of that, it’s raining.  I would guess there is some correlation between rain and the lack of customers.  One sales guy here has been to the coffeepot like 242355 times already.  It seems like all these people do is drink coffee.  If I had a job where I only made commission, I would only go to work when I thought customers would be there.

Maybe they should just have the service department open during normal hours with a limited sales staff.  It’s like they sell good cars but they have no common sense.

Since I’ve been slightly neglecting this blog lately, I figured its a great time for a life update.  In no particular order:

RUNNING: I ran 4 miles tonight. It’s the longest distance I’ve done since the Disney Marathon, which was almost 3 months ago.  I’m just over a 9 minute/mile pace at that distance.  I have five races scheduled in April/May so I’m really going to be hitting the pavement.  It feels good getting a trophy at the end of a race!

SCHOOL: I turned in my second C# project last weekend.  One more to go and then class number one of masters degree number two will be complete.  Summer semester is going to be rough because it’s less than a month and I have a work trip to Colorado scheduled right in the middle of it.

WORK: Work sucks lately.  I just hate being there.  Our worthless marketing guy is trying to take over technology and my boss doesn’t like to fight the political battles.  On top of all of that, four years of doing the same things is getting boring.  There is no chance of advancement in my current job and my boss doesn’t support formalized training (even when it’s free).  I would really like to get my expired CCNA back (which wouldn’t cost the University anything but time), but the boss believes that if you train someone, they will leave.  I’m not knocking my boss.  He’s a great guy both in and out of work, but I need challenges!!!  I would go for the CCNA outside of work, but I don’t have time.  I do have a 5 day weekend beginning tomorrow, so maybe I’ll be re-energized by Wednesday.  If things don’t improve over the next few months, I may jump into the job market.

TRAVEL:  Yes, we are hitting the road again Sunday.  Back to Disney World.  As annual passholders, we can book the value rooms for next to nothing.  Apparently though, too many of them have been booked, so someone from Disney called me today and gave us a free upgrade to one of the Deluxe Villa Resorts (Old Key West).  It should be a great weekend.

TELEVISION: LOST is really slow-moving this season.  Some questions are being answered, but there’s not much new.  I’m ready for more action.  24 is pretty much the same old thing.  Some [insert hostile county]ian terrorists plan to detonate a [insert WMD type here] weapon in the U.S. and Jack is going to save the day.  Been there, done that.  The best part of the entire show is Chloe!

So it’s Thursday.  Smack in the middle of Cherry Blossom week here in Macon Georgia.  You would think important stuff would be going on here.  Think not.  Take a look at the most viewed stories on macon.com:

I mean, I could understand if he was stabbed over a sirloin. Or maybe a chicken leg. Or even one of the free scoops of cherry ice cream they are giving out downtown. But a waffle?

Macon’s Cherry Blossom Festival kicked off about an hour ago, but we’ve already had our fun.  Frugal Jonathan knows a secret.  The Thursday night before the open ceremonies, all of the rides and attractions at the park are open to the sponsors, volunteers, vendors, dignataries and people who know about it like me — for free!  We stopped by last night and rode the rides for free with no wait.  The kids had a blast and I left with the same size wallet as I came with.

Here’s another gallery post that you are all so tired of seeing, but when you have kids and you love photography, you have lots of pictures to show:

Make sure you get out and enjoy the festivities.  This is one of the few weekends that there is actually something to do in Macon!

Yesterday was the day of the College Hill Corridor Soap Box Derby, part of their annual Bike Week.  We worked on our car for about three weeks.  I personally put in about 4 hours of construction and 13 hours of painting/decoration and another hour or so of transport. 

You’ll have to watch the video to see how the car did on the track, but I will tell you we won Peoples Choice, which was a $100 gift card to Ingleside Village Pizza!

It’s no secret.  I am a pack rat.  One of my goals this year is to go through some of the things I collect and send it with the garbage man.  As the kids grow, our house seems to be shrinking.  There is no such thing as free space in our house.

The first thing to go is my collection of AOL (and other ISP) CDs.  I’m tossing several hundred CDs that have been sent to me over the years.  It’s actually been quite a while since I’ve added to the collection since dial-up is virtually non-existent now.

The next thing to go are pay-stubs.  I have every pay-stub that I have ever received.  Don’t worry, I scanned every single one of them into PDF using a high-speed scanner at work.  Nobody would have ever believed what things I did for $4.25 an hour while in high school or how a 21 year old college student could actually make $11.00 an hour working part time at Publix in 2001.  Perhaps my scans will help Tristan appreciate working when he gets older.  

Before trashing them, they will be properly shredded.  Don’t worry, you won’t find any SSNs in the photos below.  Here are my pay-stubs from high school and college:

Notice this Pack rat post is titled “part 1″.  There is certainly more to come.  Eventually I’ll use all of the hotel soaps that I’ve amassed since the 1980s and maybe I’ll even trash all of the Business Reply Mail envelopes.  Stay tuned!

What do you collect?

This weekend, we spent Saturday in Quitman, Georgia visiting some extended family.  They live on a 200+ acre farm — plenty of room for the kids to play.  They have horses, goats, and even alligators.  Here are some photos:

That truck, by the way, is the largest thing I have ever driven in my life.

I’m not quite sure what happened today, but after enjoying a nice 70 degree day yesterday, we woke up to rain, sleet, and snow this morning . . . in Macon, Georgia of all places!  It has been years since we have seen this much snowfall.  The kids had a blast!  

Of course, the white blanket makes everything beautiful.  Here are some pictures:

Let’s hope it all freezes tonight and makes things hazard enough to cancel classes at Mercer tomorrow.  I sure could use another 3 day weekend.  I haven’t been to work on a Monday in over a month!