Zhou Dynasty

Next week I get to go to Boston to train our sales force on something I barely know.  It'll be my first trip within the company.  It's kind of a short notice from my boss but here's what happened…

While driving to work this morning my cell rings and it's Boss.
Boss: Hey Bill where are you?
Me: Uhh.. I'm just leaving my house (half an hour late)
Boss: Did you just roll out of bed or something?
Me: Yeah, I didn't even get a chance to hit the shower (tmi).
Boss: Haha I'm driving too.  Oh btw, we're sending you to Boston next week.
Me: Ok?  To get some training?
Boss: No you're going to give training.
Me: Just me?
Boss: Yeah
Me craps my pants.

... Important to have a good spouse so she would be what you are not. Moving in destiny as one person. Never try to possess then she is yours forever. If there is any flaw, pretend you are not seeing it. Give support, then encourage her to be stronger. Heaven arranges good marriage, men work at it to procure lasting good marriage. ...

How many NWA mechanics does it take to replace a light bulb? I don't know the definate answer, but I know it's more than 2 hours. My flight to Boston yesterday was delayed for almost 3 hours. Before takeoff the captain announced that there was a light bulb in the cockpit that needed to be replaced which would only take 5 minutes. Everyone was instructed to stay onboard the aircraft while 4 different mechanics brought the spare part. They made 2 attempts at replacing the light bulb with no success. Finally after almost 3 hours of trying to get the right spare part, the union mechanics' shift was over. Everyone had to get off the plane and board another one instead. Because of this delay, I got to know my fellow neighbors pretty well. Sitting to my left was an elderly lady, probably around the age of 90 who seemed to have a relative that had a connection with every topic we discussed. To my right sat a retired US history teacher whose son is a superintendent of a private golf club, free golf for that man for the rest of his life. Anyways we ended up doing Sodoku puzzles to pass the time, the elderly lady showed us some strategies that really made it fun. I'm done "training" the salespeople now. Just waiting for the party to get started.

Don't you just hate it when people talk to you on the phone while they're taking a dump? Well right now I'm blogging as I'm taking a dump. It's not too difficult as I have a strong wireless signal and a 3 pound laptop. Sure typing isn't as smooth as I'm periodically interrupted by "business" but it's all good. Anyways, it hasn't stopped raining in Boston yet. Actually I'm in Dedham, a suburb 15 minutes south of Boston. I was watching the weather report on the news this morning and their forecast for the next 5 days is cloudy with rain and in the 50s. How would you like that? To not see sun for more than a week. The locals tell me that it's normal for the weather system to stick around and give them lots of rain, how depressing. I think I'm going to get ready to head to the airport in a bit, maybe I can catch an earlier flight.

I think Prince is dying. He hasn't been eating his food for the past few days and he's been sleeping a lot. It even looks like it's harder for him to breathe now. He's a lazy dog but now he's even lazier, if that's possible. I don't know when Prince will go to doggy heaven but I'll miss him. Even though he drove me crazy while he was younger by constantly getting trouble, I'm still going to miss him. Once when we were still living in Edina, Prince dug a hole underneath our backyard fence and went exploring around the city. We couldn't find him anywhere until the next day when Edina Police called to notify us that Prince is in doggy jail. We went to pick him up and he was all dirty, looked like he got into a lot of trouble but had a good time. Then there was the time when he came home after getting nutered. He walked around the house that day completely spaced out and looked like he just lost something. He's aged quite a bit now and doesn't get into much trouble anymore. Now I give *him* trouble. Last month I spilled some wine on the kitchen floor and he licked it up. Then I poured some more and he licked it up again, he apparently loves wine. After a few more spills of my wine Prince was drunk. He's not the annoying kind of drunk and he didn't drunk dial anyone but he couldn't walk a straight line.

It's Monday, I'm still at work, and Amanda just called me to ask how to do the money cheat for Sims 2. Incase you are at home and about to call someone to ask for the Sims 2 money cheat, just do the following: hold down SHIFT and CTRL and hit C. Then enter in "motherlode" and hit ENTER. OR you could just go to Google and type in "sims2 money cheat".

Taylor Hicks is the American Idol for season 5, awesome, I love the guy. I'm not one of those people who watch this show religiously but I caught a glimpse of it a few weeks back and saw a guy with grey hair perform like he was having the time of his life. I had a feeling this guy would win. I watched the final episode last night and I couldn't believe how big this show is. There was something like 63 million votes cast, which is supposedly more than any president of the United States has ever received. Anyway, this Hicks guy has a ton of talent and is a true entertainer. After the show Amanda and I were in our room playing on our computers when I saw something out of the corner of my eye... a black little mouse hopping around on the carpet. Amanda didn't notice because she was talking on the phone, I decided not to tell her because she would probably lose her marbles. Her biggest fear is rats and mice. So I got up the first time and tried to catch the mouse without killing it but it got away. I went back to playing CS hoping it'll just disappear. A few moments later the little sucker was hopping around next to me again. This time I went upstairs to look for something I can smash it with, without somehow letting Amanda find out. The whole time Amanda is playing her Sims2 and doesn't even know what's going on. I finally got a rolled up magazine to smash and basket to trap and was getting Michelle to distract Amanda, but then I hear this scream. Amanda saw the mouse and freaked. We came downstairs and saw her standing on her chair screaming with a wild frantic look on her face. She scared the mouse and it ran away into this storage closet. Finally the chase was over, I put a mouse trap in the closet and trapped the mouse in there by stuffing the bottom of the door with a towel. But now Amanda is afraid to walk in the basement, she insists that I either carry her to the bathroom or walk with her so she can jump on my back if that little thing comes out again. Turns out that mouse is called a Eastern Wood Rat. These little guys don't live in peoples' houses, they make nests outdoor with grasses or piles of twigs. This would explain that time when I mowed over a pile of dead grass in my backyard and I saw a couple of black shadows scurry away. Their diet consists of grasses, berries, seeds, nuts, and other things. Sounds like I should put some bird seed on the mouse trap if I want to catch him. I think this wood rat just ended up in the house because the repairman left our door open all day in the basement. Too bad it's going to either starve to death or get owned by the all-mighty mouse trap. (I bet she's gonna want me to take the picture of the wood rat off the blog.)