1474 - Who Want's a Ticket?

I've been late writing my entries the last two weeks, but this time it seems that the gods (in this case, the public school system) have granted me some extra free time. I should be out golfing, or at least going to the driving range, but it's cold and wet out, after a week of sun and warm.

The work week was probably one of the busiest and most frantic I've had at my current job. Monday, I dealt with the aftermath of the data import I'd performed over the weekend. I'd received a list of "problems" discovered via the import (none were my fault), so I worked at correcting them. I didn't get a lot done, because I'd been bitten by the perfectionist bug. I spent part of the day unnecessarily reorganizing things that didn't need reorganizing, for my own pleasure.

I got off work at five and headed straight for yoga. It was a level 1/2 class that I was taking as a make up for my weeks in Seattle. It was packed - I think the instructor avoided moves requiring us to raise our arms out at our sides, because we wouldn't have been able to. The students in the class *looked* more advanced. They sat with better posture; they appeared to be practising yoga moves before the class started. They looked like the wishy-washy sort of folk that you might expect at a yoga class. I was one of only three men in a class of roughly twenty.

The class started with a series of quick, simple moves. I had trouble keeping up, especially where you're supposed to be breathing at specific times, while moving into and out of certain positions. Fortunately, the quick move portion ended quickly, and we moved into a series of positions that we held for quite some time. The teacher gave the class the opportunity to request positions, and some did, using names I'd not heard before. The positions were difficult, but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge they presented. I imagined myself being really good at them, and that made me happy.

It was a warm day, and I left the class tired and soaked in sweat. I got on my bike and headed home, where I frittered away the rest of my time on the net, and reading magazines and books.

Tuesday, I worked until six, then headed home. TA came over around seven, and we watched Kenny Vs Spenny and Jeopardy. After that, we went to Lion's Head for wings. The place was packed when we arrived around quarter past eight. We got our wings, had a drink or two, and were on our way. I headed over to JW's to spent the fleeting moments of the evening with her.

Wednesday, I again worked until six, after which I went to my regular yoga class. We had a substitute again, and again the stretches were very helpful. My back went from being very sore to feeling fine, and it hasn't been sore since. It was a fun class, because we only had six students, a far cry from the class on Monday. It was the last class of the "term," so I'm not sure if I'll see any of my fellow beginner students again.

Wednesday was a day filled with exercise. I walked/biked to work, went for a half hour walk at lunch, biked to yoga after work, did the yoga, biked to pool, and finally biked home. Pool was... interesting. TA, AD and one of AD's friends showed up late, but they brought me a double cheeseburger. TA was drunk, but AD was drunker. Neither were driving, and it wasn't long before TA and I had two beers a piece, and AD had a quadruple scotch. The pool was good, except for the constant interruptions by AD. He made an ass of himself, and I'm sure lots of people at the pool hall would've kicked the shit out of him had they not been in public.

Thursday after work, I got a call from AN. Apparently the Seattle folks needed another import run. I worked until eight, doing what I could before heading over to JW's. I had no intention of sacrificing my evening on such short (no) notice.

Friday morning, I discovered that the import had failed, so I started it again. I learned that I'd been asked to start the import the previous night, only to give the Seattle people more time they didn't need to do their part. For some reason, the tool ran slowly, and by the end of the day, it wasn't done. I went over to AN's to continue the import, while he worked on upgrades for the auction software we were going to be using the next day. The import didn't finish until three in the morning, so needless to say, I'm taking some time off ASAP.

We did watch Rocky Balboa toward the end of the import. It wasn't great, but it was entertaining. It's more about following your heart and positive thinking than anything else - Rocky loses a close fight in the end, but that isn't important to him because he so much enjoyed the chance to fight again. The fight also helped cure him of his fixation with the past.

I slept in Saturday, naturally. In doing so, I slept through both of the remaining two yoga classes I might have attended to make up for the second class I missed in Seattle. I decided instead to go out in search of a haircut, or rather hair trim. I tried to go to the mall, where I'd last gone in December, but the salon was full of women and more were waiting. Another hair place downstairs was less crowded, but they had no appointments available. The trip to the mall wasn't a waste, though - I picked up a large wok (larger than the one I'd bought the previous week) for only $13.

On the way back from the mall, I happened to see the sign for Gunther's hair salon. TA, PL, sometimes GK and I used to carpool by the place every day, and we used to find the name "Gunther" funny for some reason. I went around the block and parked, then went into the tiny room that is Gunther's Hair Salon. Gunther is an older, eastern-European man. His wife/assistant/employee was busy doing someone else's hair, so he offered to do mine. I told him very specifically that I wanted mine left long - I just wanted a little trim on the back. He said he thought it could stand to be thinned out a little.

The cut itself went seemingly well. He didn't wet down my hair, so I wasn't really able to tell just how much he was cutting, but it didn't look like much. He trimmed the back and the sides a lot, but it wasn't until I got home to survey the damage that I found out just how much he'd cut. I like the back being nice and short, but the short sides give me a bit of a mushroom head, and I now find it to look a bit feminine at times (ugh).

I went to JW's right after the cut, and she was devastated. It wasn't long before I was feeling really badly about it, too, but as time passes I realize that things aren't as bad as perhaps they seemed. It's still pretty long - I've lost maybe an inch in places, and it won't take more than a couple of months to grow that back. Plus, I'll be able to grow it longer without the sides and back being so unacceptable to certain relatives. TA's party last week was a bit of a turning point as far as my view of my hair is concerned - I got lots of positive comments, and I liked it in the photos that were taken. Oh well, it'll be back soon.

After several moments of silence, JW and I went to the grocery store. Afterward, we went to Staples for a few things. AN then called, and I met him close to JW's, leaving the car at her place.

We both had our suits on, and were ready for our third run as volunteers at the local Progress Club's auction. We're responsible for working with the software program that keeps track of such auction necessities as bid sheets, winning bidders, invoicing and reporting.

Our dreams of a technically-flawless evening were crushed almost immediately. Though AN had tested the wireless signal strength of the auction's network throughout its entire space, the patron registration laptops had greater and greater difficulty staying connected as the evening wore on. We think it might have been related to the people themselves - more people means more physical objects interferring with the wireless signal. In the end, we took names, ticket numbers and phone numbers down on scraps of paper, which really looked professional. At least most people had pre-registered online - a fact that averted a disaster of biblical proportions.

The rest of the auction went smoothly, apart from the warring egos of the Progress members, and a slight lack of adherence to the agreed-upon procedures. The auction raised approximately $100,000 for local (provincial) charity - a nice take, even given the wealthy audience.

AN and I could've had a table at the auction for our efforts, but having no one in mind to fill it, we teamed with our company. They got the table, and an advertisement in the auction programme. They squandered a potentially-valuable PR opportunity by not attending, en masse. In the end, only one of our employees attended (with a friend), and another's parents attended. Our table had four people at it, six less than any other (they're tables of ten). It was both sad and embarassing. Next year, if we do the auction again, we've agreed to invite our friends to the event.

JW picked us up from the auction, thanks to an open bar and Progress folk generosity. Several hours later, we got back to JW's, having dropped AN off.

Sunday morning, I had breakfast with JW then headed home, leaving her to be alone with her mountain of work. I again took a stab at re-doing my web site, but I only succeeded in wasting another hour of my time. I played Civilization for a few minutes, then looked at cars online for a couple of hours.

I went home for dinner, but I didn't stay long. Dad was away, so Mum and I had dinner and watched a bit of golf before she drove me down to TA's. I only ate vegetables, as TA and I thought we might go out for wings. I was kind of excited by the prospect of doing something fun Sunday night - sometimes I get tired of going to my parents' EVERY Sunday. The main thing keeping me going every week is golf - I don't have cable, so I can't watch it at home.

At TA's, we watched the Trailer Park Boys movie again, played some Mario Golf, then watched some South Park. We also listened to some odd music that TA had picked up at IF and RD's party the day before. The first album was a mix of rap and Adult Swim cartoon sound clips. The second album was a mixed combination of The Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's The Black Album, appropriately entitled, "The Grey Album." This all took place in the company of a few drinks and yet another Donnini's pizza - this time we tried a chicken, pepperoni, hot pepper and green olive pizza. It was hot and intense - almost too intense. I couldn't even taste the pepperoni, its taste dominated completely by the other ingredients (the chicken is spicy). Next time, I think I'd substitute the pepperoni for pineapple.

I missed the bus at midnight, then wound up taking a cab home. The cabby said a lot of strange things, but I forget what they were now. I find that being friendly and responsive to a cabby often breeds this type of behaviour.

Nine Inch Nails released a new album this week, which I purchased on Thursday. It was a total surprise - I'm used to waiting at least four years for a new album, but this one came after only two years. I looked up the review on Allmusic.com, and I was blown away by both the sheer length of the review, and the overwhelming support of it. It's actually quite an interesting read. I'm never quite sure what to think of new music the first listen; I was lukewarm at first. Since then, I've come to think of it as an excellent album - I'm constantly listening to it. I used to like it when this sort of thing happened more often.

I’m currently listening to: The Beginning of the End from Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails.

Movies watched this week: The Trailer Park Boys Movie, Rocky Balboa.