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The price of iced coffee has increased by 10 cents.




Well, shit.

how i spent my birthday

with a few of my favorite things.

anhedonia

Troubling news out of the Microsuede camp. I may have to give up coffee. Sometime last week I became very anxietous. Not that I was nervous or worrying about things, but my heart became all poundy. That's not cool. As an experiment I went a couple of days without coffee, and I was fine. I mean, jitter-wise I was fine. I did fall asleep in the middle of giving a presentation to the VPs though.

To further the experiment I had some coffee yesterday, with the same pulse racing result. Today is another no-coffee today. We'll see how it goes. I'm feeling pretty dead inside. I would say "robotic" but robots generally serve some kind of purpose.

I have an appointment with a trained medical professional tomorrow, so maybe he'll know what's going on. Though one time he kept me waiting over an hour and when he came back he got Carl's Jr. all over the place.

If I do have to give up coffee it should be okay, I am pretty good at giving things up. I cut out 90% of my television viewing, I went 77 days without a drop of hops or spirits, and quitting smoking was the easiest thing I've ever done.

I don't get a lot of credit for quitting smoking, since my smoking habit lasted exactly as long as the time it took to snap this picture, but still.

a variety of snack

I picked the wrong day to give up coffee.

Friday! Pie.



Saturday! rained

Sunday! What?

I had to buy these. Opening the bag was an assault on the senses. They taste like that rotten beach smell. Why do they exist?

Ad I heard on the radio: "Who says you can't be Irish and Goth?" I know I've never said that.

two twenty nine thru three two oh eight

Victory!

Seriously though, as much as I talk about this stuff, please don't take it as a recommendation. Sometimes it's not very good.

Friday! Stayed up late re-watching the Wire. Are you sick of me talking about the Wire yet? Well there's only one episode left so we'll be done soon.

Saturday! Scotty had a bad day. Scoundrels stole his sword (maybe) and used it so smash his car window (possibly). While he was cleaning up the debris some punk-ass teenagers made fun of his vest.

Danny, Chris, and I were going to take him to lunch. I was lobbying heavily to go to Hooters because hey, that would be ridiculous. We ended up at the Red Iguana instead. I wish I had my camera so I could take pictures of the creepy playground at the creepy motel next door.

Really only one thing to do after that. Experiments with rocketry.

On his own blog Scotty has already proved that attaching bottle rockets to a paper airplane will only end in disappointment. That didn't stop us from trying again anyway.

Disappointment. But what about strapping a rocket engine to a balsa wood glider?

3...2...1...

Faster the blink of an eye the thing took off, looped, and came right back at us. All I could capture was the trail of smoke.

and the fate of the glider.

Scott claims the projectile came within inches of his head. I cannot deny nor verify this.

Sunday! Faster than the blink of an eye a plan was devised by my grandpa to go to Delta, Utah (far away) to look at the migrating snow geese that stop there every year on the way up north. I had to get up at 6am which you know I love doing, and then me and my grandpa Gordon and my own selfish brother Michael hit the road.

And what a long lonely road it was.

Cool sights along the way.

This is the Santaquin/Goshen/Genola/Elberta area of Utah. This is where my people come from. In the mid-1800s the clan that would become the Sampsons came from overseas and settled in this shithole.

The semi-ghost town of Eureka. The population peaked at about 4,000 in the 1920s, but now it's down to about 700.

Main Street.

Eureka is the 34th most roofless town in America.

This cabin belonged to Porter Rockwell.

Besides being a stone-cold killer, Rockwell was also a noted beard enthusiast.

Eureka's Theater. I guess people were a lot smaller back then.

There are old mine shafts everywhere. I'm not sure how authentic this one is because I don't think anyone would ever really write a letter backwards.

I don't know what El Chupe means. Maybe it means "the shrimp."

The Eureka Cemetery. There are guys here that were killed in the Civil War.

Finally, to Delta! They love their snow geese in Delta.

If there's one thing we know about Gordon, it's that he's always on the outside looking in.

Took a wrong turn and stumbled upon the site of the Gunnison Bend Massacre. In 1853 Eight surveyors were killed here by a band of angry Native Americans.

Spooky place. Feels massacre-y.

Finally we found the reservoir for some goose watching. Yeah, I guess that's a lot of geese.

There were probably, I dunno, a million geese gathered on the water. Unfortunately they stayed in an area that wasn't accessible.

The wind and cold proved that a little bit of geese watching goes a long way, so we stopped for lunch at one of Delta's two restaurants. I am fascinated by this odd garnish.

Hours later I finally got back home, where I found this jerk waiting for me.

I hate him so much!

obsession

McDonald's Iced Coffee. From an objective standpoint it's not that great. But I have to have it. I have to have it every day. Whoever the evil wizards are that McDonald's has in its employ, they've done their jobs.

Problem is, it's not available at every location. The only places I've found it are at the two by my work. Which is fine, but what about on weekends? I'm supposed to go clear out of my way just to get my fix?

So I called McDonalds HQ to complain that the Iced Coffee wasn't available at enough locations. They said it's up to the individual owners/operators to decide whether or not to carry it (prices and participation may vary and all that). They encouraged me to file a formal complaint, so I did. They also told me to try the caramel flavor.

two eight through two ten aught eight

This weekend is pictureless. I did stuff, but I have nothing to show for it. Might make for a boring blog entry -

"They're all boring!"

What's this? Blog hecklers? I'll put that rapscallion in his place! You're all boring!

I'm fighting a cold. Not very happy about that. Friday night I didn't want to leave home at all so I just hung out and watched the monkey show and a lousy Jazz game. Finally at about 1am I realized I should get some cold medicine and went to the 24-hour Wal-Meth, Mart. I love going to Wal-Mart late at night. It's always an adventure and I always see such interesting characters there.

Not this time though. Nothing interesting to report at all.

Saturday I drove my own selfish brother, Michael around so he could go bowling. Then I had to drive all over the damn place to find a McDonald's that serves my latest addiction, iced coffee. Seriously their iced coffee is really good and I'm sure they're doing something sinister to make me crave it so much. Problem is I think only two places in the whole Valley actually serve it. I may have to write a letter.

Saw Charlie Wilson's War with Natali. Good flick. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was great as per usual.

Went over to Andy and Cherie's and helped kick in a door, which was very satisfying even though it terrified the dog and made her shake like a tickle-me Elmo.

Then I had a date with my one true love, Greek Souvlaki. Since I was still sick I needed some chicken soup for the soul. Well, I needed it more for the belly than the soul because I was also very hungry.

Made it a two-movie day and saw There Will Be Blood. Maybe I can work in a photo here.


Oil! What a tense movie.

Sunday was incredible. Blue skies, fifty degrees. It reminded me that there's such a thing as "not winter." Spent a good part of the day working on the brakes on my car which have been grinding fiercely the last few days. Chris was nice enough to take the time to help. And by "help" I mean "do it" because I am mechanically inept. The brake doesn't grind anymore now so that's good.

At this very moment I am listing things on ebay. I've never sold anything before but I just got my first bite so that's pretty exciting.

"Pretty exciting? More like pretty who-the-hell-cares-ing!"

Man, hecklers.