I now understand why jocks hate nerds.

went to a mariners game yesterday with the in-laws and my parents. it was a pretty good game, and the mariners actually managed to win against a much better boston red sox team. there were probably as many boston fans there as seattle fans, it was crazy.

I was actually glad we got such shitty seats (near the left field foul pole, WAY up) because we ended up in the shade, and had a nice breeze. it was about 95 yesterday, so the breeze was appreciated.

the thing I didn't like about the game was our neighbours. the two full rows in front of us were math nerds from UW. scrawny, pale, pimply college kids that had no business being at a baseball game. I don't even know why they went, none of them watched the game or seemed to even know what was going on. several of them were doing what appeared to be math homework, while others video'd each other solving rubik's cubes as quickly as possible. they each spent $20 or so on the tickets, plus whatever ungodly expensive concessions they bought. to sit and do math homework or play rubik's. or to stand up and switch seats CONSTANTLY during play. or to attempt a wave. TWENTY FUCKING TIMES. I missed at least half of the sixth through eighth innings because every thirty seconds, my view was obstructed by nerds trying to do the wave. they just wouldn't take a hint. the damn thing died within ten seconds of them starting it, every time. I laughed audibly when one of them lamented every time it died behind home plate, "that section sucks!". I pointed out to miyuki it wasn't that section that sucked, but our own...

I'm a stickler about the wave. I don't care if it allegedly WAS invented at their damn school, it has no business at a baseball game. it's a football thing. or a soccer (futbol) thing. it's mildly annoying at hockey... but it's REALLY annoying at baseball.

I don't know what it was about these kids... despite the fact there were nearly as many girls as boys there, I have some serious doubts any of them get laid. I got picked on a lot as a kid, I was a geeky, nerdy type... but hell, _I_ would have picked on these guys. they were pupli kids, for jebus' sake...

what the wtf?

I'm now pissed at canada.

first of all, it took them almost eight weeks to process miyuki's tax return. but when they finally did, they completely screwed us.

I did her taxes using an online tax preparer dealie, like how I always do mine. I've never understood taxes, canadian taxes doubly so. I like the idiot proof nature of those computer programs... you plug in various figures from your forms, and it does everything for you.

we thought we had a return of over $1100 coming. that was going to finally get us a new computer.

they've decided she gets $214 back. because she moved away from canada. her moving down here cost her $900 in tax return. I guess in canada, when you only make $17k a year (in eight months), you have to pay more taxes than you would if you earned $25k (in twelve months). seriously, what kind of damn math is that?

now, when I moved TO canada, I got a HUGE tax refund. why? I only worked part of the year, but was paying taxes as though I'd be working the whole time. as it worked out, I ended up ridiculously overpaying because my wages were prorated, and it knocked me into a much lower tax bracket. the same thing happened the first year back in the states, since I only worked four months I got damn near every penny back (I had an income ofless than $8k that year, but paid taxes as if I earned $25k). we figured the same would be true when miyuki came down. and our initial assessment of her tax refund was what we expected, she was to get a large chunk back because she only worked there eight months...

what the fuck is up with that? they decided she needed to pay MORE taxes because she moved away? that's the most retarded thing I've ever heard. and the president of my country is a fucking moron.

on the colour of grass.

it's not the grass wasn't greener on the other side. truth be told, both lawns were pretty brown. no, I'm trying to get my old job back right now because the new grass is moving thirty miles away, and I don't want to deal with the commute. the new job is frustrating sure, probably even more so than the old one. but I was willing to deal with it for the convenience of not having to change everything. relocating to kent (or sumner or mukilteo or tukwila) just isn't gonna fly tho.

and really, the things I didn't like about the old job were the commute and the boss. I'm trying to get the same job, but at the ballard store. different boss (nice guy, too) and five minute commute. hell, my brother in law even told me the whole cycle counting thing will likely disappear soon too, and that was always my east favourite part of the job. they're switching computer systems, and logistically, the new system just can't handle the counting...

it's somewhat ironic that just as I was getting close to blowing my top, the guy whose job I'm trying to get finally quit. he's a nice guy, and it's amazing he lasted as long as he did with that company... he was always too good for the job, I'd worked with him at corporate. he actually took the seattle gig the same time I took redmond. if things go well, I may end up replacing him. I won't find out until friday, since the district manager is out of town. I spoke to the branch manager briefly, and he said it's the DM's call. I know there are least two other candidates in the mix, but I have them both beat in spades if it comes down to merit. I just gotta hope it does. there's a small chance I burned some bridges when I left last year. however, this same DM who is making the call told me when I left that he'd take me back in a heartbeat. guess we'll see if that was just lip service.

if this does happen, I will no doubt still be miserable at my job. fortunately, it will make the transition back to canada in a few years that much easier, if we're still so inclined. in the short term, it's a job I know I can do (and do well) with far less stress. I like the idea of fewer variables and having those variables more under my control. see, my current job is playing out like a nightmarish keystone kops flick...

I'm in charge of production. there are four aspects of production: engineering, purchasing, electrical and mechanical. big jobs need to go through engineering first, where they're designed. when engineering is done, it's released to our buyer, who has to procure all the materials. once the stuff gets there, an electrical control box has to be built and fitted to the mechanical part. on any given job, at least two of those four things go tits up. either engineering takes too long (or designs it wrong), or our vendors can't ship fast enough to meet the demands our customers place on us, or something goes wrong on the electrical or mechanical side. right now, I have a four week backlog coming out of electronics, and my main guy for one of the bread and butter mechanical lines has been AWOL for several weeks with a questionable "infection" in his groinal area. toss in the usual supply problems (we've been insanely busy) and I'm just not a happy camper. and every time a job goes late, I get yelled at by salespeople. I don't have the horses to ever finish the race, and yet it's my job to do so.

so if I go back to the old job, there's much less to worry about... it's not production, it's distribution. I buy stuff for other people to sell. if there's a supply issue, you can always sub something. a toilet is a toilet, right? sure, there's stress and there are problems, but the seattle store isn't redmond. it has a good manager, and more importantly, a competent warehouse staff. they don't have the warehouse monkeys averaging 85 on the IQ scale... they've got good guys who have been there a long time, and that makes a HUGE difference in the buyer's stress level.

worst case scenario, I'm spurned by my former employer, the new one moves somewhere ungodly (commute-wise, anyway) and I'm forced to find another job from scratch... but I really hope it doesn't come to that.

why file sharing sucks...

kids, you shouldn't use file sharing services not because it's illegal or immoral, but because people are fucking morons.

I've been watching "I love the 70s" on vh1 much of the weekend, and got a hankering for some blondie... now, I'm going to use one of my freebies from bmg to actually get the greatest hits, but I want me some atomic right now. so I got on limewire and downloaded not it, but also maria, rapture, heart of glass, the tide is high, one way or another, and call me.

unfortunately, I also found these files available:

joan jett - one way or another
blondie - ring my bell
blondie - oh mickey you're so fine
blondie - I'm gonna be your number one
blondie - funkytown
blondie - I touch myself
blondie - bette davis eyes
blondie - 99 red balloons

these type of files actually outnumbered the accurately named files... hell, at least "I'm gonna be your number one" is an actual blondie track, just with the wrong song title... but I really don't see much by way of similarities between debbie harry's voice and toni basil, joan jett, kim carnes, nena, lipps inc or especially anita ward.

people that can't accurately name these songs should not be allowed to distribute them...

what the crap?

we went shopping today for some stuff, and I'm growing more and more confused by store muzak...

we're sitting in old navy, and they start playing dead milkmen, 'punk rock girl'... very disturbing. this was followed by that shitty rihanna song that completely ruins soft cell's 'tainted love'... then it's followed up with 'ball and chain' by social distortion, so I'm not sure what to think.

worst part tho, was when I started hearing some abomination against nature cover of 'every little thing she does is magic'.... got home and a little research showed this to be by shawn colvin. she is now on the list of people who are to be blasted into space without a spacesuit once I rule the world. you do not fuck with the police. they're sacred, god damn it.

kicked in the balls.

so has anyone else noticed that msn.com pretty much ALWAYS has an article about hating your job? seriously, there's usually something about hating a boss or coworker or something... today there was one about "how to tell if it's burnout or time for a break"... and yeah, according to it, I'm burnt out. which is sad, considering I haven't even been there a year. but the fact that I'm reading articles about job dissatisfication AT work is probably the first hint right there.

so yeah, I've upped the ante in my passive-aggressive job search... I'm not going to actively search for a new job, at least not until they decide they want to move somewhere horrible and force me to commute. but I did talk to a friend from the last place I worked, and asked her to sniff around to see if anyone is hiring. it wouldn't be a positive move or anything, but at least it'd be slightly more bearable than what I'm doing now. and it would be temporary anyway, since we're talking about going back to canada. I'd probably be happier spending two years as a toiletmonger... plus, the person that would give me the most shit about going back couldn't say a damn thing, since after he predicted I'd be back, he quit and went back two months later. at least I'm already to nine months...

in happier news, I signed up for a kickball league. I'm really looking forward to it. I dunno why I hadn't heard of this place earlier, but it's called underdog sports leagues, and they do all sorts of adult, co-ed rec sports... all involving copious amounts of booze. if kickball goes well, I'll try the softball and bowling as well, and maybe even the golf. this is all contingent, of course, on me not killing myself whilst trying to touch my inner fifth grader...

R.I.P. "Agnes"

maybe it's simply a case of 'easy come, easy go' or maybe it's karma for buying a suspiciously cheap bicycle, but my new bike is gone. I named it "agnes" because a coworker told me I had to name it something, and that was the first ridiculous name to pop in my head.

once again, I blame the damn painters. while I was in canada, a sign was posted on the door asking everyone to move their bikes from under the stairwell so the stairs could be painted. by the time I got home, a bunch of bikes were in the lobby and the back door was wide open. my bike was nowhere to be found. I called the apartment manager, and she said hers had gone missing too. she also had a shitty bike. yet there were some really nice bikes left behind. go figure.

so I had a bike for about ten days, and now I'm back to walking to work... and out $50. had I known I'd be paying roughly $2 per trip, I would have just driven to work. it would have been much cheaper.

at work today I found myself downloading a bunch of stuff for canada immigration. read into that what you may.

I also heard by far the lamest excuse for not showing up to work ever today. one of the temporary shop monkeys called in and left a voicemail saying his car had a flat tire. he said he didn't have an air compressor, so there was nothing he could do.

I'm gonna enjoy asking the guy tomorrow if he's heard of a spare tire. and if he hasn't, I'll then remind him he also has a motorcycle he oft rides to work in lieu of his car.

seriously folks, if you were out too late or hungover because of a national holiday, just say so... don't come up with some lame ass excuse like that. oh, and don't do like one of the other guys did, sit on someone else's computer talking to your girlfriend for half hour for lunch on msn messenger, and THEN decide you don't feel well and need to go home.

me wanting to move to canada is probably the least of my employer's problems. at least I'll give proper notice if I quit...

weirdest. weekend. ever.

okay, I haven't had many six day weekends... it just doesn't happen.

thursday was granny's funeral. it was awful. too bloody hot inside that church, which was decked out like a stage for a ridiculous gay pirate play. garish bright colours and crap like that... we thought we'd get out of it relativelt unscathed after the pastor read the little program bit and a dumb slide show, but then the retired deacon got up and talked for another half hour about all sorts of churchie bullshit, including some homeland security inspired rant about needing a passport to get into heaven... much of what he had to say wasn't even about her, but about my dead grandpa instead. touching, really, the way the church in longview still views women as second class citizens. my sister didn't appreciate me asking if one of her kids happened to bring their gameboy, as I left mine in the car. my mom gave me a nasty look when I expressed concern about the possibility of being struck by lightning inside the church for being a heathen. I tells ya, my family just doesn't appreciate good black comedy...

we came back thursday night, but I told work I had to be down there friday too. so I slept in friday, did a bunch of chores around the house, and otherwise just slobbed about. you know, "mourning" in my own special way. when miyuki got home, we went for sushi, and then went to a mariners game. it was one of the most utterly pathetic performances in the history of professional sports. oh well, it was still nice to go out to the ballpark.

saturday BJ came down. we met up with my friend moe for more sushi. then we went to a skanky bar in lynnwood where BJ was humiliated by the barmaid for awhile. in her defense, his blowjob performance really was pathetic. after the bar we headed out to a titty bar in mukilteo. we were under moe's direction on this one, as he is a bit of a hobbyist. he made sure to differentiate that between an "aficionado" or "connoisseur".. basically meaning he didn't spend THAT much on skanky boobs. what we didn't realise was this titty bar had a special VIP room in the back, and the "lap dances" worked on a sliding pay scale... let's just say it's a good thing BJ didn't have $250 on him, and leave it at that. it's bad enough he felt the need to rinse with mouthwash after his ordeal...

sunday we went to the sci-fi museum, and I hope he had fun. miyuki and I had been there once before, and were a tad disappointed that there was no new content, but it was still interesting.

monday I drove BJ back to canada. we ate yet more sushi. I stuck around for my first ever movie night. it was about what I had expected, but with less people. two people walked out before the films were done, and I like to think I played at least a supporting role in both. good to see I still have my touch, after all.

now it's tuesday. I'm back home after breakfast with BJ and brendan, and we're getting ready to head out to redmond for a 4th of july party. I normally don't give a rat's ass, but it's a former coworker of mine who used to be a pastry chef that's throwing it, and I never pass up invitations to eat at his place. I have a feeling we'll leave after a few hours and not even stay for the fireworks. I really don't care about them anyway...

I don't want to go to work tomorrow.

this is a load of crap

Christian Film's Rating Worries Lawmakers

so the churchies are pissed off that their churchie feel good movie got a PG rating instead of G and are now claiming some sort of bias in the subjective rating process...

funny, I don't remember them whining about 'a dirty shame' receiving an NC-17 (formerly X) rating, despite having zero sex on screen and no gratuitous nudity...

what the fuck. I hate this country.