Sex and the Rocket City

Jenny and I saw "Sex and the City: The Movie" last night - the longest movie I ever sat through which didn't have an explosion or something catch fire. It's not what you think - Jenny won two tickets via a local paper. I lost The Game seven times (unexaggerated) and I once LOL'ed thinking about Weldon's cinderblock joke (in proper context). I was the ONLY person who laughed - laughed hard - at an iPhone joke. To be fair, I was a fan of the show and the movie was pretty good, though it took half an hour to get rollin, [sarcasm] but THANK GOD there was another 118 minutes left [/sarcasm]. I kid, I kid... I you need to take a date to see a chick flick, this is definitely one to consider (it has boobies).

That Chick Needs to Get Laid

There's this bird, and every morning it enjoys to sing a catchy little jingle outside our window around 3am. Bird, what's the deal? Three in the morning on a weeknight is no time to perform a mating ritual. Let's face it, by the time last call comes around, if you still haven't hooked up with a chick you probably aren't going to. Cut your losses, go to bed, masturbate, and try again the next night. And stop WAKING ME UP AT 3AM!

Dark Lord Day ‘08

Dark Lord Day was amazing. For those of you who are unaware, Dark Lord Day is the only day of the year when one can buy Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout, at a limit of six bottles per person and $15 per bottle, and is held at the Three Floyds Brewing Co. in Munster, IN. It is among the top ranked beers in the world, typically #2 on beeradvocate.com but was recently pushed to #3 by Kate the Great. Fortunately for me, Jenny came along for the joy ride and in so doing I purchased a baker’s dozen – or a $180 case of beer.

I have yet to crack open any of my beers, but I did have a sample of the Oak Aged Dark Lord Imperial Stout on tap - which in itself is easily one of the best beers I’ve ever tasted.

Here’s the rundown…

My car leaves the Haute on Friday evening, and about twenty minutes in I am pulled over – and given a warning! A cop who is polite, humorous, and gives warnings - I thought that was an old wives’ tale. About an hour later we pull over again because Jenny gets carsick. Well, we arrive in Lansing, IL, and check into the exquisite, luxurious Days Inn. We eat, we drink, we are merry.

We awake early on Saturday, shove a dozen people into two cars, and are on our way. Our crowd consists of myself, Jenny, Hargis, Shane, JJ, Schue, Kidwell, Rogers, Cleve, Sully, Weldon, and the ever-so-adorable Kennedy; and we meet up with Halfpenny, Beth, and Jesse later on. The beer goes on sale at 11am; we arrive at 9:30am with a five hour wait ahead of us. I say, I haven’t seen a line like this since I visited the Vatican a few years ago; but in this line you can drink beer. There are Three Floyds beers on tap, visiting breweries’ beers on tap, food in the brewpub, people trading beers and of course, porta johns – all for your line waiting pleasure. My one complaint: the event isn’t nearly as much of a beer/music/BBQ festival as the descriptions implied – really much more of a beer festival with BBQ in the brewpub (a different line) and music inside the warehouse (while 98% of the line is outside the warehouse). Also I failed to realize that other special beers were on sale, particularly Hvedegoop, a wheat wine jointly brewed by Three Floyds and the Mikkeller Brewery in Denmark, sold for the first time ever in the world at a limit of two bottles per person.

Sunday morning rolls around and we mosey back to Terre Haute. Nothing more of interest to tell other than I pooped four times on Sunday. I think the high protein, dark beer diet isn’t one to be desired by fitness enthusiasts.

George and Dynetics Are Doing Goodly

Dynetics conducts an Employee Development Plan (EDP) each April, which is essentially an employee evaluation – with a twist. The twist is a company evaluation. Let me continue…

Each employee fills out the last two pages of a three page form describing his job, how he likes his job, and his career goals. For instance, I work in IR signatures analysis and plan to earn a Masters Degree (but with much more detail). The first page is filled in by my immediate supervisor, and asks about the employee’s corporate, job, and personal characteristics. Then the supervisor and the employee meet and they discuss the form. So it’s not so much an employee evaluation as it is a means to open communication between management and employees, and make sure everybody is happy. I have very little contact with my immediate supervisor (we work on different contracts) so I didn’t know what kind of stuff he was going to write on that first page. In our little meeting he said he talked to guys I directly work with, and on page one he writes stuff like “hard worker,” “motivated,” “a good team player,” “has good interpersonal skills,” “exemplifies Dynetics corporate values in on-the-job actions,” and yada yada yada. He told me I’m a good employee, a great fit for Dynetics, and they’re lucky to have me. This is the first direct feedback I’ve received on my performance other than “good job,” so yay for George. Unfortunately, as the evaluation to make sure everyone’s happy, this does not mean any extra moolah for George. That evaluation is conducted in September.

In other news, Dynetics was named a “Best Place to Work in Huntsville / Madison County” by our Chamber of Commerce. Fifteen companies were named, five in each category, with Dynetics in the 250+ employee category. Lockheed can SUCK IT!

Nose Hair

I plucked a massive nose hair yesterday. It must have been rooted in my frontal lobe. I wanted to frame it, and put it on display in the dining room. Instead, I washed my hands.