grrouchie thoughts with bad tats

Someday's I think to myself: "Self, I'd really love a new tattoo" and I end up finding shit like this.

Thus far Halloween has been worthwhile.  I threw some pics on Facebook (for those of you who stalk me there) of myself and the kid and us together.  Last night we went to Springs Preserve and he was wearing his Deadpool outfit and we found a chick dressed up like Lady Deadpool.  This made me quite happy.  Thought about leaving my lady right then and there, but she'd miss me and the boy so I just kept my carnal thoughts to myself.

I've been super bloody lazy since my vacation.  I haven't been to the gym since I have been back.  I haven't taken a walk since I've been back.  I haven't been meeting my goals, any of them.  Laziness and eating bad are addictive.  Seriously - they are fucking addictive like cocaine or masturbation.  Once I fall off the wagon I fall hard and it sometimes takes me a while to right the ship.  I'm currently in the "I want to get back on track" phase but I haven't actually done anything about it.  I need someone to kick my ass.

I've had my new computer for about a month now and the one thing that I am certain of is that I really dislike windows 8.  I hate the whole "lets just make everything apps" phase that computers are going through.  If I wanted a tablet I'd buy a tablet (and I own two of those already but am lusting after a 3rd, prettier one).  I don't like the way I have to switch between programs.  I don't like a lot of crap about windows 8 but I guess I just have to learn to deal with it and adapt.
Windows 8 does not suck nearly as bad as Millennium did so it's got that going for it.

Because one person sent me like 6 requests and I asked him to justify his actions I ended up caving up.  Yes, I have downloaded and started playing Candy Crush Saga.  It's not a bad little time waster, and currently my favorite Poop Game of choice, but I don't get why everyone has been so gaga over it.  Me, well I have an addictive personality and when I start playing shit like that I just can't quit.  There is something wrong in my head that causes me to just keep going until I reach some sort of goal that I make up (but when I reach that goal I quit playing and never go back).  So, I'm obsessively playing the game in order to pass up a few co-workers who have been playing for months.  Shoot me now.

Tomorrow night I am taking my Fiance and heading to Fright Dome and am quite excited about it. I highly enjoyed the experience last year and am really looking forward to the new attractions this year.  This year they have one you go through by yourself and I have already been told that I am the only one doing that as she will just wait for me by the exit.  Whatevs.  I really do love Haunted Houses.  There is just something special and magical about people trying to scare the shit out of you.

The McRib is back for a limited time and as is my usual routine I went out and bought two the day I found out about it.  I'll probably eat two more over the next week or two and then I'll be satiated until next year.

 That chick has a lot of dicks climbing up her leg.

Speaking of obsessive, I didn't want to pick up Grand Theft Auto 5 until I worked my overnight.  Was talking to a co-worker about it and he went into great length about what he liked and stuff about the story and how great he thought it was in general.  This had me leaning towards "I hope they run a sale soon" and then I started looking things up which led me to the special edition that was released which led me to the fact that the Special Edition comes with a Steelbook packaging and I am retarded for Steelbooks.  So, now I have an amazon page open and waiting for me to just say "fuck it, I need it" and click the buy button.

Of course if that happens then I also have about two other games that I really want and have in my "wishlist." So, what is holding me back is that I just don't want to spend the money.  The Playstation 4 and Xbox 1 are coming out next month and I'm trying to mentally figure out where I can scrape that money from and also to justify it in my head.  Right now I'm leaning towards "I need to buy these before moving in with my future wife because it's easier to justify spending a lot of money before we live together than to justify spending an ass-load of money after we are living together."

While on the gaming subject, the thing that really annoys me about all these next gen systems that are coming out is that there are no games that are must haves for me at launch.  Watch Dogs was as close as it got and that got pushed back to next year.  The Xbox has Dead Rising 3 but shit, I haven't bothered with the 1st two even though I've really wanted to.

And this leads me to spring cleaning.  Recently I had my house painted (and soon am getting new carpet put in) and thus I had to pack up my shit into boxes and move it out of my room to make life easier for the painters.  I'm a pack-rat of epic proportions.  I keep a lot of shit.  I like shit evidently.  I have way too much of it and it generally only sinks in when I'm forced to pack it all up for one reason or another.  Mentally I've told myself that I'm going to get rid of a lot of it.  Sure, it's nice to have collections of Video Games and whatever else I have but the reality is that I'm getting older and there is no real reason for me to be hanging on to all of this stuff - especially if I'm never actually going to get around to using it.
So, it's going to be tough but I've really got to let some of it go.  I don't want to lug it all over to the new place after I get married because there won't be place to display it all and also there is a high probability that if it looks like a toy the package will mysteriously end up opened because the house has a mischievous child who wants to play with everything.

I could leave a lot of my stuff at my house and set up some displays in one of the extra bedrooms that will be used as a play room when I bring the family over to visit.  While I think this is a great short term solution it does not serve the long term which is that at some point I'm still going to have to pack all the shit up again.  Whether the house turns into a rental after my parents move on or if it gets sold or whatever, the stuff cannot just stay there permanently.  Also, if I have stuff I'm displaying I'll continue to have the urge to add more stuff to the mix because there are always collectors editions coming out and dammit I'm addicted to that shit.

 The picture above while completely retarded might be one of my favorite tattoo's ever, right up there with the stick figure mowing the lawn through the pubic hairs.  The shitty piercings have to go though.

We are now going to be planning our conception (post wedding) around the Chinese Fertilization Calendar or whatever the fuck it is because she wants a girl.  Oh the joys of superstition.

She will also be in High Fertility during that time period - according to some application she has on her phone that tells her when her eggs are dropping and when I need to pull out earlier....

Modern technology

grrouchie thoughts with tight dresses

So I'm going to start out with:
I hate GameStop exclusive Collectors Editions.
It's not so much that I hate the collectors editions it's just that I hate when only GameStop gets them.  This goes back to the Original Bioshock.
Today's game in question is BEYOND: Two Souls.
Free upgrade to a Steelbook which is nice (and the only reason I would actually pre-order) but I've got to deal with GameStop shipping which is not free and is not release day guarantee like Amazon.
Will I deal with it? Yes.  Do I like it? No.
Whatever
#firstworldproblems

Oh, and I hate that I don't get to pay via Paypal.  WTF.  Get with the times.

I chose pleasure over goals the last couple of days.  I had been weighing in at 215 consistently and then blammo - today shot me up to 220.  I hadn't weighed in for the past few days and knew that there would be a gain with the way I was eating and not getting to the gym.  I'm not surprised but I know I now have to re-focus my efforts to lose what I put back on so I can get back on track.

And, much like the chick above laughing at me this virtually assures me the loss of my bet with a fellow blogger about who will weigh less when he comes into town.   Damn you tasty delicious food, Damn you.

I have been putting a lot of time into Diablo 3 lately.  I went the cheesy way to get the Hardcore achievement and for my efforts I was laughed at by unholy forces.  I was about half way through Level 29 the other day when I entered a room and pretty much died within 3 seconds.  Character dead, no do-overs.  Good Day fucker.  What I figure'd out during those 29.5 levels though is that I really enjoy the shit out of playing a Monk and will be making another, non-hardcore, to play with normally.  Also, I can't wait to get one of my "main" characters back to Act 3 because that was so much bloody fun.

I'm thinking of moving a TV and Video game system to my Fiance's house so that I can play there as well when everyone is sleeping or on mornings like today when she has to be to work at 6 and I work late.  This way I can let the kid sleep a bit longer while I get in some good quality time with my systems and then take him to school.  I can't wait till he is a few years older and we can co-op some games that are a bit more mature than Lego Indiana Jones heh!

My Start-O-Matic football season has begun and I magically started out with a Victory.  I think I can start 2-0 but I do know that my team isn't good enough over the long haul (again) which will be a recurring theme for a few years I think.

I have not played poker any time recently, but October will change that.  I've got at least two planned sessions and I hope that my hot streak continues and the Poker Gods didn't decide to murder me because I stopped playing while running so good.

Just enjoy the view above.

This photo amuses the shit out of me because of the foreground and background.  Sure, boobie squeezing and biting is amazing and all, but that's just an added bonus here.

Even if you cock your head to the right and try to look up, you do NOT get a better view.
Diablo 3 has taken up most of my "free" time lately.  I am behind on my comic book reading.  I am behind on real book reading.  I am behind on pretending I even want to do anything else.
Now, I will hit publish and fire up my 360 again.
I completely forgot to update on any of the wedding going ons, but that will just have to be another post at another time.

grrouchie thoughts with yoga pants

Free time becomes less and less as the year wears on.  Between planning for the wedding and spending time with my family I don't have a whole lot left over.  I haven't played poker in probably 3 weeks or so even though I was on an enormous hot streak which was long over due and great for me mentally.  I put most of that money in the bank and left some of it in my wallet.  I spent 3/5ths of what was in my wallet.

My debt is decreasing at a rapid pace again.  I haven't talked about it much because in all honesty there just wasn't anything to harp on about.  I'm paying down my dental bill from earlier in the year.  It will be gone in October or November.  My engagement ring will be gone probably around February.  I could probably make both of them disappear if I were to spend my poker money which is something I debated during my whole trip home.

I'm not sure I want to spend the poker money though.  There are a bunch of people coming into town in the near future that I'd like to hang out with and play games with.  End of September to the end of October appears to be a very busy month full of people and events.

Speaking of Events.  We won a free 3 night 4 day stay at the Silverton because of something we entered at the Bridal Spectacular that we attended a while back.  While I'm pretty sure that "winning" isn't really the right word I'm quite happy to enjoy a little stay-cation with my fiance and child.  I've heard that the Silverton has some good pools and we plan on taking advantage of that.  With our 3 nights we also get 2 vouchers for free meals and a $100 in a casino gaming voucher.  I'll pretty much be laying claim to that as the Fiance doesn't gamble at all.  Hoping to be able to take it to the craps or black jack tables and turn it into real cash.
Also, our first night there will be kid free as her mom has volunteered to watch him that night so we can have a nice quiet night alone.

After we complete that stay-cation we then have 1 year to lay claim to another 2 night 3 day stay at the Grandview Hotel and Casino which I believe is owned by the same property group.  So, even though I'm sure this "offer" was made to most of the people who signed up I'm happy to take advantage of a few evenings pretending to be tourists.  We won't be spending money or gambling it up so it's not like we have anything to lose at all.

Saturday night after suffering through horrible asthma problems all day long I ended up with the fiance to watch the fights in peace and quiet.  The next to last fight of the evening was the best of the 4 and I'm happy with the way it all turned out. The Main Event was pretty boring and turned out about how I expected (not how I wanted).

November is a three pay month.  I know it's a bit early to look ahead to November but that extra paycheck will come in handy being so close to the holidays.

Wedding planning has been continuing nice and easy.  We have the dress picked out, we pretty much have our invitations picked out.  We picked out our accent color for things like that decoration that goes on the Tux and the flower girl's outfit.  It also appears as though we might be going from no wedding party at all to two people on each side.
We received a call the other day to book an appointment for tux fittings but told them it was way too bloody early for this type of phone call.  We were thinking more along the lines of January or February.
She also went out and found the wedding band she wanted.  I thought I found mine too until the guy told me it was ceramic.  Ceramic? When did bands start getting made out of something so fragile?
It was a very gorgeous looking band but working in retail I'd probably have the thing cracked and crumbled before a year was up.  Back to the drawing board.

I ate unhealthy the last two days and I am really paying for it this morning.  Ugh.  McDonalds and Pizza from Sam's Club.  I put back on a pound or two but those will all disappear by the end of the week.  The annoying part is I didn't get any gym time in this weekend and I really was hoping to start working towards a streak of 10 straight days over 10k steps.  Today I'll be starting day 1 again.  As long as I feel better by the end of the evening I'll be hitting up the gym after work for some quality cardio time and maybe some time on the weight machines as well.

I love my life and hope you all are doing the same for yours!

grrouchie thoughts with science facts and a little poker

Over the course of the last few days I spent it almost entirely with my fiance and child and really enjoyed every minute of it.  I look forward to next year when I no longer have to leave them to go "home" but instead just stay there because I am already home.  It's amazing how much two people can change your life forever.

Over the last few days I have seen a few movies, some old and some new.  I made the family watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit which of course was a hit because lets face it, who doesn't love an amazing half animated movie?  This movie of course holds itself well over time and I wish that it was a genre that would have taken off.  We did have Cool World which was no where near as good and who can forget that POS Monkey Bone? Well, I guess we all should probably forget it.  I guess I now see why that genre fizzled out.

Then I threw in some Breakfast Club because it's simply amazing.  Today we watched Jack the Giant Slayer which I have been wanting to watch since I saw a preview and I'm happy to report that I was NOT disappointed. Quite an enjoyable flick though I think it wrapped itself up just a little too quickly at the end.
I do enjoy getting free rentals from Redbox so that I can check out some movies.

While not 100% having to do with the picture and quote above, to this day I still swear that my farts (to me) smell like French Fries.  I have not found a single person who agree's with me.

Went to the Farmers Market yesterday and picked up some really good Salsa and Hummus.  I loved the salsa and could stand the hummus.  I also picked up some exceptional Beef Jerky made by Jo Jo's Jerky.
It was nice and tender and had amazing flavor.  The only thing I hate about Beef Jerky is the price and that's why I almost never buy it.
However, I love using however.
In the near future I do plan on making a trip out to the worlds largest Beef Jerky shop that is on the way to California and, in fact, might just be across the border.  I've been wanting to go for years but never have and when we drove to Disney other factors stopped me from making that pit-stop.  So, I'm going to just pick a day that I have off and make a morning out of it and hopefully find one other person to go with me who also shares my love of overpriced dehydrated meat products!

I played poker recently and had one of those sessions where you think everything is going great and you know you are getting close to leaving but just don't know how close yet.
Then you experience a ten hand stretch that leaves you sticky broke and confused and you scratch your head and try to figure out how everything went so wrong so quick.

Hand #1 - I get involved with a short stack who is sitting on about $100.  We both get all in on the flop and I ship about $100 worth of chips over to his stack

Hand #2 - I get involved with a 2nd short stack who is sitting on about $100 as well.  I raise pre-flop and on a Queen high flop we get all in with my Queen Jack vs his Queen Ten.  I'm happy that I'm about to get the $100 back that I just lost to some other guy 3-4 hands ago until the Ten of Diamonds hits the river and I watch yet another $100 go the wrong way.

Hand #3 - I call a small raise with pocket 8's and watch an 8Tx flop that also has a rainbow and the clouds part and angelic voices start singing to me that I'm about to recover my $200 from the previous two hands above.
I bet out into the pre-flop raiser and I bet about pot.  He raises me $100 on top and I push which he instantly calls.
I'm in the process of turning over my pocket 8's when I notice that he tables pocket Tens ahead of me.
I die a little inside and watch all of my fucking chips get pushed to his seat and I realize that one dealer and one orbit just completely killed an otherwise profitable 6 hours of poker.

Sometimes the game just bloody sucks.

grrouchie thoughts with music and

Just going to start by throwing out a couple of songs that have randomly popped up on my playlist lately that I used to love and now find myself listening to over and over and over.

This is Tomahawk and is off of their first album.  Lead is Mike Patton who is probably my favorite vocalist of any generation.  He is constantly working on his next project and has numerous bands, most of which I enjoy thoroughly.  Faith-No-More, Mr. Bungle, Peeping Tom, Tomahawk, Phantomas and some other projects out there as well.
This song just really gets my blood flowing - it's great during a good session at the gym and I like to try and time it so that it comes on when I'm starting to feel like I need to quit.  This gets me going for at least another few minutes.

This is The Mission by Puscifer - which has the vocalist from Tool and Perfect Circle.
While I really dig the groove of the song the thing that really makes it for me is Mila Jovovich as I just totally dig her vocals here and I happen to think she's one of the most attractive people ever created.  Probably the only reason I keep watching the Resident Evil Movies at this point heh.

I'm not able to play any poker again until Sunday but I'm keeping my eye on the prize here.  I know that I need to just settle into a nice little routine and play one night a week, maybe two if I'm lucky, and enjoy it.  However, when I start playing I just have the urge to keep playing all the time.  Every free moment that I get I'm thinking I should just head out and get in some time.  Having a new family around me is going to help keep me grounded there especially after we are living together and I'm going to be responsible for actually watching over a kid for hours on end while she works.  Family life is a weird adjustment to my reality.

Last night I had the fun privilege of finally cleaning up my front yard. The HOA here likes all the houses to have some trees, shrubs and bushes in the front because it makes it look nice or some shit.  These things all require regular maintenance which I do not have the patience for.  I was born a fat lazy white man who craves an office job and detest manual labor.  As such I get to it about once every two years.  I wish I would have taken before and after pics but I wasn't thinking ahead as I grabbed the trimmers and went to town.  I started with 3 shrubs that were going on 5 feet high and one bush that is close to the ground but grows out and spreads itself multiple feet, the diameter on it was probably about 8 feet when I started.
When all was said and done the shrubs now stand about a foot high and just look like some broken sticks poking out of the ground (they will grow back, they did before) and the bush is about a foot in diameter.
I did notice that during this hot summer the water was only hitting them at 8 am for 3 minutes - I need to change that to allow them to have some water in the evening after the sun has gone down as well.
They are still alive so it's not like it's an issue currently.

This is what work feels like - a big no swimming sign next to the desert.  I feel in the last few months I've grown into my job somewhat but I know I still have a lot of room for improvement.  However, until there is consistency in the department with staffing there will never be a time to sit back with a beer or three and enjoy a nice swim in the pool of amazing.
I'm sure I've said it before but this is my 10th month in the position - come Saturday I will have lost my 9th person from my area.  It's not like it's all bad as most of them have been promotions to better areas or even different stores (and in one case) or States.  Only one fired and only one quit.
However, losing an employee every single month that I work sucks, especially when they are never replaced until they have been gone about a month.
I just met my new Plumbing Specialist yesterday, the guy he replaced took off 4-5 weeks prior.
My Electrical CSA is leaving Saturday - there were two part time guys lined up to replace him immediately, but both of those fell through.
I'm now left with (currently) the 3rd highest Shrinking Department (Don't worry, I also have #1 in Plumbing) with not enough staff to cover itself for a day, let alone a week.  This is going to lead to a pretty big increase in stolen shit and pissed off customers I fear.
On top of that the department has been double digit comping all year long while understaffed.
It's a shame that my company basically considers Electrical the asshole of the store.  It's overlooked and ignored until you want to blame shit on it.
Even busier stores with more sales in the department are all understaffed.  I don't get it and really can't wait to get away from it.

I remember these days partying with the Nittany Lion. Oh, back when Joe-Pa was a God.

I'd be volunteering to do the dishes right about now

grrouchie thoughts with random pics

My buddy sends me a text today telling me that his fiance has made me an appointment for my Tux fitting on 1/21/2014.
I told him that I was working that night.
He responds for me to take it up with his woman, he's not getting in the middle of this.
I text her that I'm busy that day and she responds with "Don't make me cut you."
I've never met her but I think she's F'n Perfect for him.

This next one has me perplexed currently.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about it or if I'm going to follow through with it.... or, for that matter, if I even want to follow through with it.
Basketball is the one sport where I don't have a team.  The biggest problem is that Pittsburgh doesn't have a team and thus I don't care.  I root for the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates (in that order specifically) and I love my teams, but I have never really rooted for a basketball team.
When I've found myself in a position to watch basketball I've more just picked out players that I like and rooted for them through their careers.  The last such player for me was Dennis Rodman, arguably the greatest rebounder in NBA History.  He was lucky if he got 6 points a game but he made a huge difference when he was in there.  He wasn't flashy (well, his play wasn't, he was fucking flashy beyond belief) and he didn't get a ton of credit but he got shit done and you could look at the stat lines and be like "yep, he made a difference again."
I started liking him back when he was with the Pistons and cheered for Detroit because of him.  When he switched teams I found myself switching teams as well.  When he retired I stopped caring about the game.
All of this is a long lead up to this.

That picture now hangs above my television.  You see, what-had-happened was this.  A few years back this was given as a gift to my sons sperm donor.  He didn't give two shits about it and threw it in a closet to never been seen again.  Lakers are his favorite team but he never showed appreciation.
As Father's Day was approaching the kid wanted to get me something so he brought this out to me.  I told him that it was very thoughtful but I would be better if he put it away and waited until Father's Day and he reluctantly agree'd.   Last night he randomly remembered it and when he asked if it was Father's Day yet we said it already passed so he got excited and ran in to bring my gift out.  I told him that I thought it was amazing and asked him where he wanted me to hang it up.
Their house or my house.  He said my house.
So, today I brought it home and removed the shrink wrap and hung it above my TV - sending him a pic which I'm told he responded with a big smile and "tell serge I love him."

He knows I'm a die hard Steelers fan and I give him shit for liking the cowgirls.  However, when he asks me about basketball I tell him I don't follow it and don't have a team I support.
Now I'm thinking about trying to become a Lakers Fan so that I can share that with him.
I don't know if it's possible or not but I'm going to make an effort to allow the Lakers to become my "team" in this sport and see where that takes me.
Only time will tell I guess.

Work is a strange beast, I feel cursed at times.
June marked my 9th month at this store in my current position.
Midway through July I'll be losing my 8th employee.
Four because of Promotion. One fired. One quit. One transfer to Vermont or some shit and One transferred to another department.  And one was out on Leave for 3 months but is back now.
It sucks having such a high turnover no matter what the reason is.  It's hard to keep a good team together in retail as it is but when people are constantly getting themselves promoted and moving around it makes it even more difficult because now you've got to start all over.
I have one "original" member in each of my departments and the rest have all been replaced with more to come.  I'm waiting on a guy who is a transfer from PA, when he gets here it will have been over a month since the last guy left.  I'm waiting on two new hires for my other department to replace the guy leaving mid-July.  If history is any indication I won't get them until after he's been gone for at least two weeks.

Verizon is the only cell phone company I have ever had a contract with and until just the other day there has only been one big annoyance that I had to deal with because of them.
Now I'm up to my second one.
For the longest time Verizon had a program called New Every Two where they'd give a "loyalty" bonus in the form of a $100 discount towards a new phone when it was time for you to upgrade.  This would get a new phone in your hands but lock you into another two year contract.
They used to allow you to start using your upgrade at 18 months.
Then they took away the 18 month upgrade and forced a strictly 24 month minimum for upgrades, I could live with that.
Then when my last upgrade came about they reduced the discount from $100 to $50 and while that annoyed me because I wasn't expecting it I dealt with it and only grumbled a little bit.  They did allow me to carry over my Unlimited Data plan (they had done away with giving out new Unlimited Data but I was grandfathered in) and all was right with the world.
Now it's time for me to upgrade again and I started reading about new phones but came across an issue where they are forcing people to get rid of their unlimited data.
The way it works is this - if you "upgrade" your phone and sign a new 2 year contract you are forced into a new data plan that is something they currently offer.  They are no longer allowing you to be grandfathered into the unlimited data plan that they are not offering any more.  If you choose to upgrade and sign a new contract you are SOL.
The work around is that you can continue to go month to month but you have to pay full price for any future phones.
The other thing I noticed when I was looking around for a new phone was that the Discount to upgrade is now completely gone and has been replaced with a Mandatory $30 fee for upgrading to a new phone.
So, they want from giving me $100 (towards purchase) every 2 years to forcing me to pay an extra $30 on top of the price of my phone every time I want to upgrade and are saying "fuck your loyalty"  in the form of either losing my cushy data plan or being stuck with a shitty data plan because I don't want to pay $600 for a phone.
The entry level data plan of 2 gigs per month is one penny MORE than I am paying for my Unlimited Data.

What I think that I'm going to do is just keep going month to month.  I have insurance on my phone, so when it gets to the point where it doesn't really work well any more I'll just make sure it meets an untimely demise and then shell out $100 for a replacement.
Sure, it won't be the same phone but it will be whatever they consider an "equivalent" at the time.  I lose the ability to choose my phone but I keep my data.  I feel pretty stubborn about this currently and I don't know what it would take to make me cave on this stance.