If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action. ~Douglas Adams

So I decided on Sunday morning that I would try this whole “quit smoking and live longer thingie”.

It’s not like I smoke all that much anymore – an average of 3 a day. That’s not too bad, is it?

In any case, I added a nice little counter at the bottom of my page to reflect the time passed. Check it out.

Wish me luck!

Weekend update… with MikeTheMan!

So this weekend was quite interesting.

My folks celebrate my Jewish birthday (based on the lunar calendar), which is typically a different date that my secular (or solar-based) one.
They came around on Friday and brought me some cool presents – one of which is a cool black sweater that I wore to work today. Really nice, too.

I also got an iron, and some good cookies. And then I got the best ever! My mom sat down and sewed by motorcycle jacket’s pocket back on, and it was pretty hard to distinguish which pocket was torn once she was done.

Then, we sat down and watched V for Vendetta and had an overall nice time.

We watched it on a new DVD player I received from my work-mates – a really nice one. Ultra slim, plays just about anything, and fits nicely in the living room. This came along with the Trilogy, which is cool no less.

So it’s been a nice weekend, and now it’s over, it’s time tp get back to work.

Home sick

So I caught something that makes me feel like my head is attached lopsided, and my right ear is about to explode.

It’s not any fun, I tell you.

At work yesterday, I barely managed to get through the day, and I’m at home now,and I’m working on paperwork for the office.

If you feel this bad and you’re a horse, they shoot you.

Boy, I sure am glad I’m not a horse.

A quick chat transcript

10 minute chat transcript of an interesting conversation with someone pretty insightful.

[28/10/2006 12:20] miketheman: everyone wants something, needs something, urgently, now now now, and who gets to handle it?
[28/10/2006 12:21] friend: God? he is the one getting all the requests? doens’t he?
[28/10/2006 12:22] miketheman: yeah – but he’s got a lot of minions that he employs to handle things, and he MUST have some good infrastructure and request tracker system – and anyways, when was the last time you heard of him actually delivering?
[28/10/2006 12:24] friend: he has no tracker system or that shit. The guy consistently makes a bad job, and his delivery is a question of faith.
[28/10/2006 12:24] friend: i.e. that your solution lies in faith – you need to make everyone religious
[28/10/2006 12:24] friend: or to worship you.
[28/10/2006 12:25] miketheman: so what you’re saying is that I need to make everyone worship me so I can then treat them with indifference and never really listen to what they need?
[28/10/2006 12:26] friend: exactly – or at least burn them from time to time, make them die in wars and plagues..and here comes the good part…
[28/10/2006 12:27] friend: the idiots will keep calling you again and again for help no matter how bad you did…
[28/10/2006 12:27] friend: it’s an amazing start-up
[28/10/2006 12:27] miketheman: Is there any hope? A light at the end of the tunnel, that is NOT an arriving train?
[28/10/2006 12:28] friend: I hope so.
[28/10/2006 12:29] friend: Really.

Another week, come and gone…

Well, there went another week.

I’ve seen so many different job placement agencies this past week, it’s depressing. I HAVE to get a job!

I’ve updated my resume on Monster.com’s website, and I’m currently searching for a job in Ney York City. Yes, I’d hate to leave, but the options here are not appealing.

I figure with me being unemployed now, and tons of time on my hands, I’ll go and get my eyes fixed, FINALLY! I’m really edgy about calling a doc, and getting the ball rolling, it’s not a simple thing. I need corrective aggressive surgey, and that freaks the hell out of me. I have to call Sunday, or else I’ll never call.

Sitting in front of a huge screen all hours of the day doesn’t help either.

Yesterday, there was a massive dirt storm in Jerusalem, and I’m sure in other places in the country, and there was some rain, so it rained mud. Ick. I walked ALL over the city, and traversed over 15km in about 2 hours. It was nice, to some extent.

I have to get into shape, loosen up and lose some weight. It’s getting to be an annoyance. So, I’ll probably be doing tons of stretching excersises and sit-ups, and spending a couple of hours on the roof every day to grab a tan.

Hopefully next time anyone sees me, I’ll have changed a bit.

Mike, the international man of disguisey. What a concept.

I’m heading out to my folks for the weekend, where I’ll be cut off from the world (haredim!).

Later.

YAWN

It’s late Tuesday night, and I feel like I’ve been neglecting the world.

UPDATE:

I am now unemployed, almost a month now, as the company I was working for closed down (another one? waugh!).
I’ve been spending this time relaxing, looking for another job, checking out some leads, and hell, I even called someone I met in NYC to see if he had any leads there for me to pursue. Unfortunately not.

I’ve been practicing a bit of juggling, and more poi moves that I’ve learned, as I’m sick and tired of burning myself.

I got an AstroJax http://www.astrojax.com the other day in the mail, and I’m practicing avidly with it, in hopes of mastering the art of counter-gravity. It’s not as easy as it looks. I’ve already bruised myself a couple of times.

Anyways, tomorrow I’m headed to a Job Fair, here in J-Town, in pursuit of employment and CASH.

G’night.

Gahhh…

Aches and pains, it seems that’s all I get these past few weeks.

It’s a bright Sunday afternoon, and my eyes are almost sealed shut, even with the blinds down most of the way.

Have you ever run out of Hard Disk space?
I do, frequently.

Only problem is, I have over 250GB, that has a fast turnover, i.e. the minute I burn a few gigs off, it fills up like water scooped from a pond.

I think I’m a download addict.

Take two…..

What a wacky week and weekend.

When was the last time that you actually had fun for an extended period of time?
Last week was weird but fun.
Starting Saturday night, where Yos’s acting school threw a pre-Purim party which was wild and fun. Plenty to drink, good music fun people, and a great time. Went home at 3:30am
Anyways, Monday, no big deal. Off to work.
Humdrum day, and the company sponsors pizza for all! Yay!
Tuesday early, I have a game with Elon, in which he usually wins, but his day shall come. I’ve recently taken up playing squash again, and it’s been 3 years since last I played in the IAF. It’s a wonderful workout.
After the game, home and shower, and JJ comes by, and we headed out to my folks in Betar for a Purim festive feast. Plenty of alcohol, all around, and there were tons of people there, and we all had a great time. As the day drew to darkness, we (JJ an’ me) headed back to J’lem, to meet up with Yos&Iris, the dynamic duo, to head downtown to continue drinking, which we did at great length and quantity.
I LOVE TEQUILA!
Downtown, the Stardust. A hole in the wall, packed to capacity, and a rap battle is going on inside, and there’s no room to breathe. Met Sarah and Ronen there, but no room to move. So we headed accross the street to the Praha, a Czech/Russian place, where we drank some more.
Eventually Sarah calls us and tells us that there’s room in the Stardaust, come on over! We do, grab our seats, and to our dismay, the only music playing is bad rap & hip-hop instead of the usual rock & metal we’re used to.
Order another round of drinks, and after a few more, the music improves. A mix of ’60’s to ’90’s rock and traditional Israeli folk music. So we dance, and sing (scream?) along with the tunes, and drink some more.
At about 4:00am we totter out into the pouring rain to head on home. Iris hadn’t drank all evening, so she drove. We got home, and sweet sleep. JJ spent the night on my couch.
Wednesday, just chilled, hung out and worked on clearing some HD space. Wednesday night, hang out and drink some more.
Thursday, back to work, where everything was a mess, and spent half the day fuming at issues. Thursday night, working overtime, the night manager ticks me off when she tries to get me to leave (territorial control freak). I stay until I’m done, and leave around 1:45am.
Friday morning, I have a game of squash versus Jeff from work, and we have a good hour and a half of games, until we’re both exhausted. Headed home, relaxed.
Friday night, the Dynamic Duo and I head downtown to Bohlinat for drinks.
Did I mention that I love tequila? Started off with a Tequila Sunrise, then moved on to Cuervo shots, and many of them. Nadav joined us, taking a break from his studies (physics? why??). Yos had some Absinthe to start woth, then the Duo had frozen margaritas.
We eventually tottered out at 3:00am to find a cab back to my place, where we commeneced to watch Jackass: the Movie. Iris fell asleep, and Yos’n’me had a lot of fun watching it drunk.
Finally, they decided to leave, and stumbled out. Apparently, the margaritas were too strong for Iris, and she passed out downstairs, twice. Yos freaked out, and called me, I got them a cab, and they made it home all right. Irirs was fine, except for a few bruises.
Saturday, noon, we all headed over to Iris’s folks for lunch, which is always fun. Had a nice time, relaxed, practiced juggling with Yos, and headed home to chill for the rest of the day.
What a fun-filled week!

I hope yours was just as eventful!

Later.

Monday, Bloody Monday…..

Ever have one of those days?

I’m sure you have.

Today was an interesting day for me, as I went to play squash with a good friend of mine, Elon. Now, I haven’t played squash in about 3 years, since my tenure in the IAF, and God knows I haven’t been particularly physically active.
So, woke up at the ungodly hour of 9:45AM, and grabbed a cab to the Hebrew U. Givat Ram campus to meet Elon there. Got there, and we went in, trying to get our court.
It turns out that I couldn’t pay for a one-time hour game, but I had to purchase a 4-game pass, which irked me to no end.
Finally, we got to our court, and “Game on!”. High paced, fast games, but I couldn’t score enough points to win a single game. We played a total of 5, in a complete hour, and some were close, but he took me down each time. I made him work hard, though.
After the game, we went and had a nice coffee at an on-campus cafe, and relaxed a bit.
Got home, went to work, the usual Monday crap, but not so bad.
Home now, feeling good, semi-happy, VERY sore. Need to stretch more.

Later.