I was up until about 2:30AM this morning, trying to get some stuff done for work so I could sleep in until 11:00AM and go to the office at noon. This plan went well, until about 9:00AM.

For some reason or another, the city decided to send out a large, articulated payloader with forks instead of a bucket, to push back the <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_barrier">k-rails at the end of 18th street. There are 5 or 6 of these rails, and they happen to be right outside my bedroom window.

Now, this wouldn't be such a bad thing, because I do live in a bit of a loud neighborhood - what with the Arni's distribution center and the freight rail - but this had an incredibly irritating twist to it: The payloader's back-up siren sounded just like an alarm clock, and it would sound for 3 "beeps" about every 2 minutes.

Why can I never get more than 8 hours of sleep, even when I try?!

Well, it's apparently "later", finally.

Part of the deal with Touch Support being acquired by The Planet is that some of the staff will be asked to relocate. I guess the reason is that they want the better talent at their core, working along side the existing staff. Having been the lead guy to maintain and further develop the systems used at Touch Support, and with my past and present experience working with PHP and MySQL, everyone has the belief that I will be among the first groups to be moved to Texas.

Am I nervous about it? Heck yeah, I am! I've only been living on my own for a little over a year now, and it's only been 30 minutes to an hour from any family. Now, I'll be 16 hours from any family, though it's only about 2½ hours from Houston to Indianapolis by airplane.

Am I excited? I really don't know for certain yet. I'm supposed to be going to see the area down there later this week, which may change my mind. One thing I am looking forward to is the storms they get down that way. We haven't had much around here since I was about 10, so it'll be a nice change.

Will I be better off, career-wise? A little to begin with, what with the better benefits package and such. There are many more open doors within the larger organization, and I think I will do better as a programmer with someone else shouting out the orders. I have never been much for a self-directed individual, as it's hard to stay focused. I think that someone else leading the projects, or at least working along side me to keep me on course, will allow me to show my skills much better.

I'll most definitely miss my friends and family around here, should the time come that I move. I'll also miss that opportunity to just run home every other weekend to see the parents, or to run to either sister's for the weekend (though I've not been to the older sister's hardly any, yet). I'm sure there will be many more chances for me to actually take a weekend off, as I'll (hopefully) not be the only one capable of working with any one product.

There are some points of our employment agreement that I'm going to have to hash out with our "district manager", or whatever his title may be. Aside from that, though, it's just going to be a matter of getting everything in line administratively and financially.

I'm quite curious what it will take to get everything moved. I'm sure I can squeeze nearly everything into rubbermaid containers, with the exception of a few things like my shelf, TV's, computers, and some furniture. I haven't quite figured out how to transport my firearms yet, but I hope to hash that out over the next few weeks, just so I know fully what to expect.

I'll try to take my camera along when I take the 2-day trip to Houston, just to share what I may be dealing with. I'll be sure to share those pictures either on my gallery or in my Facebook photo albums.

In light of the previous blog entry, I just wanted to inform everyone that there is a strong chance I may be moving to Houston, Texas to work at the epicenter of The Planet's operations. There is no certain claim that I will be moving, but it is a very strong possibility. I'll explain later.

Well, this is quite an interesting turn of events...

Over the last few months, the company I have been working for - Touch Support - has been working to get into the managed dedicated hosting market. Yesterday, we all got notice that there was an emergency staff meeting today at 9:30AM, which never happens. Nearly the entire staff was present this morning, as were the company owners/senior management, and a few other people.

At about 9:50AM, Dave announced to the staff that we had been acquired by The Planet.

In general, there is a lot going to change. I am indeed quite nervous of the entire matter, but that's just going to go with the territory. This is the first time I have held any sort of a management title in the IT industry, and I'm really doing it blindly. I know I'll probably figure it out, but jeez...

Before I go to bed, I feel the need to rant about something else: Gas prices.

I don't get what's driving the price of a gallon of gas up so much. I went to see my parents for the weekend, but had to put gas in my car before I left town. What used to be a $20 tank of gas just a few months ago is now a $40 tank of gas. Why? Can anyone explain it?

I've heard the following used as excuses:

• Hurricanes: Okay, so a hurricane hit the middle of the Saudi desert...
• Domestic Wildfires: ...but don't we get our oil from other countries?
• Increased Transportation Expenses: o_O Okay, so we're applying recursion to life. Great.
• Political Turmoil: Yeah, so President Bush had a bowl movement and we're not speaking with {Insert oil producing country here}. Let's turn to the reserves.

In short, someone needs to figure out how to fix this problem and actually do something about it. I'm inches from using public transit and my bicycle in place of my car.

At this point you're probably wondering how much gas costs now: About $4.00 per gallon.

Warning: This entry may contain some content bound to stir up various opposing views. I don't intend for this topic to spark any discussion - I just need to vent - but if you feel the need to comment, please do so in a civil manner. I reserve the right to disable new comments or posted comments at any point in time.

So tonight I went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries. I walked up to the checkout and stood in line behind a hispanic couple. After about 90 seconds of standing there, I noticed something: They split their order up and were paying for certain parts with food stamps. The cashier found that one of the items was not listed on the "allowed" list, and attempted to instruct the man accordingly. After she got it across to him that he had to pick a different item, the man went and exchanged the item while his wife stood in line and took care of the remaining 3 orders, signing the food stamps accordingly.

As the man came back, the last order was being scanned. When it came time to pay for this final order, he removed his swollen wallet from his pocket and paid with a $50 bill. As I was standing there waiting, I noticed that his wallet was full of 50's.

This made me so incredibly angry for several reasons, not the least of which being he was fully capable of paying for his orders, mine, and the 2 people with overflowing carts behind me, without the need for food stamps. So why in the world am I paying taxes to cover the other two-thirds of his order, when he is clearly earning enough cash somehow to pay for it himself?

Okay, okay... You're thinking now that this is probably an atypical case, and that he was just paying with his tax refund check, yadda yadda. I'll grant you that. However, this isn't the first time I have seen this; I have also worked with these hispanics, and I know how they're paid. It's a matter of the boss pulling a wad of cash out of the drawer, handing it to the worker, and marking it in the books as a "miscellaneous expense".

Why do we allow this? Am I the only one worked up by it? What right do these immigrants have to collect food stamps and feed off our hard work to be able to eat? Why can't they take their own earnings and live like most everyone else, from paycheck to paycheck and making sacrifices? Do they not know better? Is there not a system in place to check up on them after they get situated and employed?

It's just so frustrating to me, that I have to pay another $100 on my taxes, yet these people are exploiting the system in such a manner.

I've had a lot of response from that last blog entry, and I guess it did come across a little awkward. I just wanted to clarify a few things though:

1. I am not gay and I'm not coming out of the closet
2. I'm not quitting my job
3. I'm not pregnant

I'm just going to leave it at that for the time being. If anything more comes of it, I'll let you know. Otherwise, just read over my blog and you'll probably get a sense of what's going on.

So I'm on the verge of making a bold move. I'm not quite sure how to put it, so I'll just not mention it until after it is done.

No, I'm not quitting my job or moving to a different location. I'm talking about a more personal level. If you've been reading my blog entries at all over the last 4 years (Yeah, it's been around that long), you'll probably know what I'm going to do.

I'm at the point right now that I'm just frustrated with myself, so I'm going to do something about it. I don't care anymore what the consequences may be. I can't live this way, so I'm going to change it.

So as it turns out, my average from last season didn't carry. I am now bowling off a 132 average. WHEEE!

So far the season is looking great! As I think I mentioned before, the team is comprised of guys from the office, and we all get along great. I was looking for a team to bowl with for the summer, and after nudging a few people around the office we came up with our team.

Tonight was the first game, and we did exceptionally well. I personally threw an average of 132, and I'm quite happy with that. Unfortunately though, I think my average from last season will be in play, so my average will only be like a 112.

Oh well though; we did well, had fun, and I'm happy. :)

The Google ads from last month were very irrelevant and received only 2 clicks. I've changed the ad style now, so we'll have to see what happens. :)

Anyone who has talked to me for any length of time knows my stance on communication: Regardless of the type of relationship, communication is mandatory for success. Here lately though, I've found myself lacking in several areas, the first being how I handle frustration and anger.

When I first started this blog, it was to be a place where I could vent without fear of offending someone. For the first couple of months, I was able to do this. However, my reader base started to grow to a point where I had to watch what was said. I mean, I found myself in a bit of a bind with a lady-friend who I was starting to get a little close to. You see, things happened in our relationship that frustrated me, and I had nobody to really share it with. So what did I do? I blogged about it. I soon found out though that this friend read my blog, and even though I never mentioned her name, she knew exactly who I was talking about. When she did realize this, she sent me rather nasty e-mails and instant messages, chastising me for my actions. At this point, I began to censor myself. The result plagues me to this day: I have not spoken to this girl since the last "big incident", and it has led to the other communication problem I'll talk about later.

The second big occurrence was when I was leaving my previous job at the quick lube. This was a rather large step in my life, as I was moving out on my own for the first time. Along with this came a lot of complicated scheduling of my final days in Rensselaer. I found out that my soon-to-be former employers were looking to have a bit of a "going away" party for me after my final shift ended. While I was not at all offended at the gesture, I was frustrated because this forced me to shuffle my schedule. I couldn't voice my frustration to my co-workers, because they were already in denial over my leaving. I couldn't share it with my parents, because they were already emotional about their youngest leaving home. With nowhere else to turn, I turned to my blog. Shortly after posting the entry, I received an e-mail from my boss, clearing showing how much I had offended her. It was a mess to clean up, and I think to this day it still isn't right.

I don't know how to deal with anger and frustration anymore, so I will either bottle it up, or I will find releases where nobody is affected. Here lately, I find myself yelling at my monitor at work - at the invisible customer on the other end who cannot hear me - which accomplishes nothing.

My other problem is approaching a female who I may be interested in. I don't see this as being the typical "fear of rejection" that nearly all guys experience at some point. Rather, I have absolutely no idea how to go about it, and while the fear of rejection does exist, I'm more worried about the way my peers will respond to it. I mean, I value the opinions of my family and friends above anything else. The problem is the teasing that others do. I remember back to when I was in grade school and had a "girlfriend". Even today, my family teases me about those girlfriends, and while I know they mean well, it is kinda embarrassing. (Sorry guys, don't take it personally.) Now that I'm 26 years old, I don't know that I can handle that, and it really detracts from the overall concept of "dating" for me.

But beyond the initial approach, I don't know what to talk about. The few phone calls I have had with a female (other than family or business) in the last few years have be incredibly awkward and leave me feeling inadequate in the social aspect of life.

So this leaves me back where I started about 6 years ago: A social "retard", unable to start a conversation, regardless of the amount of advice I have been given. What am I to do? Do I tell my boss when I'm mad about something at work (I sort of have over the last few days, and I feel guilty for it)? Do I throw caution to the wind and just tell that one girl how interested I am in her?

Is it just me, or does it seem like Facebook is trying to keep up with MySpace? There have been so many changes that have impaired useability, and they've added all these stupid and pointless features without giving the users the option to enable or disable them.

My results today were pretty decent, overall. The lab results showed that my thyroid is functioning properly, my fasting glucose levels were slightly elevated, and that my cholesterol was unbalanced (but still within acceptable ranges). After talking with the doctor for a bit, and going over the little questionnaire he had be fill out last week, he said that it sounds like I could have some sort of a problem with my pituitary gland, such as a growth, but not to worry about it just yet. He gave me some things to do, such as changing my diet and exercise habits, which he hopes will take care of the problems I've been having. If it doesn't have any impact on my health, I'll be off to see a specialist to have the pituitary stuff checked out.

tl;dr version: It was very good. Go there. Eat. Be happy.

More detail: Scotty's Brewhouse is one of the better ones I have been to in quite a while. It has a bit of an upscale feel, while maintaining that relaxed pub-like atmosphere. The establishment I went to was in West Lafayette, Indiana, and due to city ordinances it was all non-smoking.

The food was a little high priced, but was still quite delectable. Their signature appetizer, "Dill Chips", consist of breaded, deep fried pickle slices, served on a platter with your choice of horseradish sauce or ranch dressing. When eaten without either dip, the chips have a very tangy yet satisfying flavor. If eaten with the ranch dressing, the tanginess is lessened, while eating the chips with the horseradish sauce has a flavor closely resembling that of cocktail dipping sauce. Overall, the dill chips receive a positive rating from me, and I would recommend ordering a plate of them with your meal.

I ate at Scotty's twice within the last 3 days. In doing so, I not only saw the difference in the Monday night environment versus the late Saturday night environment, but I had the opportunity to try 2 different "main course" items from the menu.

On Saturday night, I ordered the "Monte's Frisco" with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. The portions were very reasonable, and the food as equally worth my time and money. What I recall of the sandwich was that it was a little greasy, which no doubt comes from being served on a toasted sourdough bread. The garlic mashed potatoes could have been ordered "loaded", but I opted for plain. They were quite strong with garlic, but were very tasty. With all that aside, the sandwich was very tasty when dipped in the side of thousand island dressing, and the mashed potatoes added the extra filler needed to make it a meal. I would recommend that you consider this when ordering.

Tonight (Monday), I ordered the "mo'fo' buffalo chicken wrap" with mild sauce and wedge fries. Having a bit of a weak stomach when it comes to spicy food, this caught me off guard. The mild sauce was just about on track with any buffalo wings I have ordered elsewhere, in terms of overall "kick". As I had just left the gym, I didn't push myself beyond the first half of the wrap, but I took the remaining half with me for lunch tomorrow. The fries were nothing special, but were a nice addition to such a meal. As with the previous menu selection, I would recommend this be considered when ordering.

If I had to rate the food from this restaurant on a scale of 1 to 10, I would probably give it an 8.5, docking the 1.5 points simply because of the prices and the strength of the "mild" sauce I ordered.

To rate the service, it would be an easy 10, as the service staff was very polite and on hand for drink refills before they even needed to be requested.

This gives Scotty's Brewhouse an overall score of 9.25 on my high-tech 1 to 10 rating system. Go eat there!