Here comes the weekend…

I really have nothing worth blogging about today.

This weekend, I have to get a copy of Turbo-Tax… yes, I am a procrastinator… have not yet done the taxes. I might come in to the office and finalize my timesheets for the end of the month (I am bad at filling in file numbers & litigation codes…)

One thing I am sure of is that I will not be getting all smashed up like I did last weekend!!! I do not need a repeat performance like that!!! I will likely hit the Monroeville Fridays after work for happy hour though. Saturday, the NCAA basketball games are on, so I will likely go out to watch them somewhere. Also, anyone who read my weekend update post before will know, I was in no condition to be domestic, therefore, I have lots of work to do around the apartment. Sunday, there forecast says it may be a golf day??? Who knows???

So, anyway… all have a great weekend.

L E A D E R B O A R D

The office bracket-pool leaderboard has been posted:

As has become the tradition, this week’s leader board is movie-themed in honor of the Academy Awards:


1. Mike S. 286 Stars as power hungry administrator who can’t get remodeling done in Subcontractor Wars III: Revenge of the Staff

2. Scott 257 Stars in movie about employee whose questionable internet e-mail contacts are responsible for most office computer shutdowns in Crash

3. Jim 256 Stars a regular in Wayman pool whose chances are slim since remaining picks are (Un) Fantastic Four

4. Ben 247 Stars as son of experienced pool player who is in for a beating if he tells me one more time he is ahead of me in Ben Hur(t)

5. Jan 244 Stars as office party planner whose picnic is only enjoyed by McMillan, because he gets to show off all of his equipment, in Fun With Dick and Jan

6. Warren 242 Stars as novice skiing commissioner who wasn’t thinking of pool when he was 11,00 feet up in (I almost) Broke (my) Back (on that) Mountain

7. Mike M 238 Stars as partner who needs to win pool to pay for tickets he can’t give away to losing hockey team’s games in (Death) March of the Penguins

7. Patty 238 Stars as seasoned secretary butting heads with young lawyer in (You’ll) Walk the Line

9. Knight 234 Stars as associate whose time spent on the links is only surpassed by his ability to talk about it in Memoirs of a Golfer


Low Max ➷ Stars as aging partner who makes leader board every year because his birthday is during March Madness and to document his continued physical deterioration in Harried Partner and the Gall Bladder of Fire

Lowest Denise ∅ Stars in double feature as bar-hopping receptionist who is gone more often than here in The Constant Vacationer and White Russians With Love

Weekend Report

This weekend was not as bad as I predicted.

I finished a major MSJ on Friday, so that meant I did not have to work this weekend after all.

Friday, as I was driving home, my mechanic called & wanted to replace the serpentine belt on my car. I told him to meet me at the Creek & pick it up. He picked it up. He returned an hour later, but did not have the belt replaced. He said he went to 3 parts stores & they didn’t have one. He was hurting for cash, so I paid him anyway. He said he would call me after he finished work on Saturday and do the job. So anyway, I got a good buzz & called it a night.

Saturday, I went over and replace the brakes on my Mom & Dad’s car. I wanted to be back in my neighborhood by 3 PM, so C to do that belt for me. I waited, but he never called. I went to the Creek about 4:30 PM, thinking maybe I was supposed me meet him there, but he never showed. M stopped in and we had 2 beers. We then decided to try a different bar, for a change, and went to Flynn’s. The atmosphere is nicer. BB (aka: Postal) met us & we drank for a while and played some pool. It was getting crowded, with a bit of a younger crowd, but we stayed. I ended up flirting pretty heavy with this girl. M & BB left, but I stayed a bit longer.(Mmmmmm…) We went to another bar for 1, then her place for a bit of heavy petting, but that was it. I made it home sometime after 3 AM, but it is all a bit of a blur right now. I am really bummed that somewhere in the course of the evening, I lost my cool Cleveland Golf hat.

Yesterday was rough. I was up, but could not really get moving. You know, as I rapidly approach 40, (take my word for it!!!) my ability to party & recover has greatly diminished. It was difficult to move off the lazy boy. I did manage to make it to the couch… and the kitchen for food, but that was about it. At least there was TPC golf & the NCAA basketball on for entertainment. Never got my laundry done, apartment cleaned and food shopping done.

All in all, it was better than I expected.

Easter Weekend

Click this link to see the rock'n place my friends & I are going for 5 days of the Easter weekend.

http://www.deepcreekresort.com/view.asp?selectviewQ=353

(Edit: ok... I don't know how to blog well. It didn't come out as a link. Ya'll can figure it out, if you want to see the place. Sorry)

The Upcoming Weekend

This is shaping up to be a really boring weekend.

I now have to cover a deposition in Beaver county (yes, that's right... I said Beaver) at 2:30 P.M. Who the heck, schedules a depo at 2:30 P.M. on a freak'n Friday!!! Anyway, that means I probably won't get all the exhibits together for my MSJ done today. Looks like I'll be working this weekend. I have to replace the front brake pads on my parents car in the morning, then I will likely stop in town an my way home to finish my work. That then means I gotta do all my domestic stuff Sunday (laundry, cleaning & food shopping).

Plus, the weather is gonna suck.

Can You Tell...

I'm freaking bored.

I have been sitting here, at my little desk, listening to a conference call since... too f-ing long.

There were only maybe 2 topics I was interested in hearing about, one was early and the other should be... who knows?

But, at least I can bill for it!!!

The Frick Building

Here is where I work.

A View of Downtown Pittsburgh

This is looking out from over Mt. Washington over Downtown

Am I Cheap or Thrifty???

There was a question amongst my friends this weekend, that I would like to hear some comments on from anyone that stops by here, please.

Am I cheap, or just thrifty???

Let me give some examples:

When I find non-perishables on sale that I use all the time, for example, coffee, I buy a shit-load. I live by myself & probably have enough coffee to last 6 months.

I shop at the Dollar General. You can't beat it for things like laundry products, plastic bags, even Little Debbie snack cakes (not that I would know). It is not just that I shop there that I am accused of being cheap. I buy (once again) a shit-load. My feeling is, if I’m gonna spend $1 on plastic wrap, I might as well buy 5. It is not worth the gas or my time, to have to drive back another time. Also, I probably have enough laundry products for the entire apartment complex to last a month. If I am there for something else, I just buy more! It doesn’t go bad!!!

Speaking of my apartment, as for living space, it is basically beneath my means. I could and probably should, get a nicer place. But... I pay more on my school loans, have more money to golf & travel. I live by myself & I am not out to impress anyone.

Lastly, the one that convinced most people… I travel a good bit for work. I always take all the Bath & Body Works products that Marriott puts out and use them at home. Hey!!! They are good products. If you put them in your shaving kit, they always put out more. I practically have a life-time supply. I don't see the big deal.

Now, I also must say… when we go out, I am always the first one to pick up a check. If someone doesn't have the cash to golf on a particular weekend, “I got it, don't worry, let’s have fun.”

So what is your verdict…. Am I cheap or thrifty???

SPRING TIME IS HERE

Yes!!! as of 1:26 PM, it is officially SPRING.

List of things I like about spring:

1. You don't have to scrape sunshine or even rain off your windshield;

2. Golf;

3. The girls begin dressing in skimpier clothes;

4. You can open the windows and let in some fresh air;

5. Fishing; and

6. GOLF.

OK.... the word has been given

We go over the wall at 1:00PM...

or at least we sneak out the back door at 1... Fortunately for me, my boss is spearheading this mutiny.

Everyone, have fun this weekend & be careful.

The Big L-East

My favorite basketball conference laid a big goose egg (no offense to the Goose) in the first day of the NCAA Tournament yesterday...

Seton Hall- OUT
Syracuse- OUT
Marquette- OUT

So the Big East gets a record 8 teams in the big dance then no none shows up the first day. This should be a big time wake up call to the 5 teams playing today, including my hometown team the Pitt Panthers.

March Madenss Begins!!!

Well, it's almost time!!! Let the games begin!!!


I have my picks in. I do 4 brackets. 2 with serious picks. 1 I call my "Pitt Goes All the Way" bracket. This is because, just in case they make it, I want to be able to say I picked them & cheer my ass off. Then I do 1 I call my "Upset Special", which speaks for itself.

I will have the CBS Sports Line, live Scoring Page up on my computer the rest of the day. The first game is...

Seton Hall (#10) v. Wichita State (#7)


... Gotta cheer for the fellow Big East Team (that would be Seton Hall for the those who do not know). It is gonna be tough, and Knight means TOUGH, for any team playing a Big East team in this tournament.

Anyone wishing to engage in some basketball banter, please feel free to leave comments.

Thanks Rev...

I figured out how to put a title on my posts, thanks to the The Rev

Goose asked a question on his blog about the scariest things.

This got me thinking about another post about more than…hey, I did this over the weekend. So, here goes another story.

Back in 1989, I thought about going back to school. I had been out of high school for 5 years and never went to college. In fact, I barely graduated high school, truth be known. I didn’t know what I wanted to study, but knew I did not want to continue working for the Marriott.

So, I contact my local Community College to find out the process. OMG… I have been out of school so long, I have to take a placement test.

Guess what??? I have to retake high school english & math over again. This was very disheartening. At this point, I almost gave up. Well, I didn’t.

I signed up for 1 night class. English 090. (the fact that is starts with a “0” indicates that it is not a college level course) I remember being absolutely terrified going to my first class. It was like first grade all over again!!! I looked at everyone, expecting them to be looking at me, wondering what this “old dude” was doing here. To my surprise, there were plenty of other students my age there.

Also, I remember being so embarrassed that I was taking English 090, that when I was walking through the halls with my book, I would purposely make sure the front cover was turned in so no one could see it. I didn’t want anyone to see I was too stupid to even qualify to take a college course. The thing I didn’t know, which I would know later, is that everybody there knew exactly what that book was. Plenty of them had taken the class too. I wasn’t fooling anybody.

I didn’t tell anyone I was taking the class. Not my family. Not my friends. And, certainly not the people I worked with. Can you imagine the humiliation if I failed?

So there it is… one of the scariest things I have ever done. 1989, going back to school.

I miss my cleaning lady & her husband.

In an effort to share more, I thought I would tell a little story.

I used to have a great situation with my neighbors. There was this retired couple, I will call them E and her husband D. They were very nice and lived on a fixed income. I paid E very well to basically to take care of me. Monday through Thursday, she would come over, make my bed, pick up any dirty clothes, reset the coffee pot and put any dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Then, on Fridays, she would do my laundry (including ironing my shirts), run & empty the dishwasher, dust, run the vacuum cleaner and mop the kitchen floor and clean the bathroom. It was great. She would change my sheets when needed too.

It was beneficial for both of us, I had a mom without the guilt and she made a nice chunk of cash for about 3-4 hours work a week. All were pleased with the arrangement.

Then, one day…

I had a great day at work, it was a Friday. I just landed a new big client. The partners took me out for martinis at lunch and we didn’t make it back to the office. On the way home, I stopped for more drinks. So, by the time I got home, I was pretty hammered. I park out front. The 16 year old son of one of the other neighbors comes running over to my car… “G… I have to tell you what happened… D killed himself today… and they think it was your gun he used… your door was open… the cops were here… they want to talk to you”

So, I run inside, my door was unlocked… I got back to my bedroom and open the nightstand drawer, a gun is gone. (digression… I collect guns, I have many. I keep all but one locked up, for protection) Also, there was a bullet hole in the wall of my bedroom.

I was shocked… I pour myself another gin, because I knew the cops would be there soon & didn’t want a DUI. Sure enough, within about 20 min, there was a detective at my door. He asked me to confirm that it was my gun. I described the gun & gave him the serial number. It was clearly my gun. He then gave the facts, as he knew them: Apparently, D had gone to the doctor’s that day, as he had been experiencing severe head aches for a while. He came home, got a hair cut. Went to the American Legion and had a few beers with his friends. He then stopped at another bar, and had a few more beers with more friends. E was not home, she was over at another neighbor’s place getting her hair cut. He got the key to my place. Went in and took the gun. Fired a shot in the wall, apparently to make sure it worked, then went back to his place, sat in his lazy boy and blew his head off. The 16 year old I mentioned earlier heard the shots and found him. I was not charged in any way.

I have felt very guilty over the situation. But, as time passed, I felt angry too. Angry that he decided to leave E that way… angry that he would allow a young man to be the one to find the body… angry that he breached my trust, taking my gun and using it to commit this horrible act…

I am still having mixed feelings about this event. But last night, as I was empting my dishwasher… I was missing E. Not just because I take care of myself, but because I considered them like friends… family.

It was a decent weekend.

Friday, after work, I wasn’t feeling well. I did stop for a couple beers for happy hour, but my heart just wasn’t in it. It seemed like I might be coming down with something. I ended up being home early and making myself grilled cheese & tomato soup.

When I got up, nice and early Saturday morning, I felt much better. Was able to get 2 loads of laundry done before it was time to get ready to go golfing.

M picked me up in her new Lexus suv thingy… pretty neat, but WAY too expensive. Any way, D was already with her, se we headed to the course. The timing was good. We paid & went straight up the tee. Loosened up a bit & were on our way.

The first hole was good, especially for the first time out the season. I was in the green-side bunker on my approach, 2 putt bogey. I’ll take it. But then… #2, was a nightmare!!! Was able to recover a bit from there, but it was a struggle.

I was coming off the tee pretty well, I can at least say that. I hit some very good shots, but had some very bad shots too. Just couldn’t seem to string enough good ones together on a single hole. I had 1 par, mostly of bogies & doubles, and some…. Well, we won’t discuss the rest.

After, we went to one of my favorite bar/restaurants, and ate & drank. I was not driving… so… I did pay, that allows me to get really drunk, doesn’t it? So, then, we went to the Creek, aka local dump bar, right near where I live. Stumbling distance. There we proceeded to watch the Big East Championship game, Pitt v. Syracuse. Pitt lost, but I really can’t remember why…

Yesterday was a recovery day. Lay around. Watched TV. Napped. Ate, then napped some more…

All in all, not a bad weekend. Can’t wait for the NCAA Tournament to begin Thursday. My boss & I will be at the bar by noon, watching the games. I only hope I can make it to Pitt’s first round game, 7ish Friday.

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!!

I can't wait for this weekend. It is going to be in the mid-60s & clear tomorrow (might even hit 70!!!) That means the first day of golf season is here.

I have made a tee time at a golf course called Birdsfoot. It is a pretty nice track. In the summer, it is $55 for 18 & a cart. But, a special this weekend... $39!!! Wooo Hoooo!!! Plus, if you know the super secrete password, you get a free hotdog at the turn. That means I should have plenty of cash left over for drinking after.

As it will be the first time out this year, I am not expecting to score very well. But, I bought 2 new wedges that I am dying to try.

So I hope everyone has a great weekend.

(btw these are photos from the Birdsfoot web site)

No trip to Traverse City

Plaintiffs cancled the deposition. On the one hand, am am disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to grill another expert... but on the other hand, who in their right mind wants to go to Taverse City in the winter!!!

So now, I have 3 days, where I was to be traveling, but now I am here in the office. Not too bad though, I have settled 3 cases that were laying around a while.

This week has been very busy at work…. (still!!!)

I have to travel to Traverse City, MI next week, to do a deposition. This guy is an explosion expert and a wood processing industry safety expert. He is really key. He is the expert for one of the co-defendants in the case, so is technically an adverse party. However, he is in total agreement with my client’s position. (trust me… this is a good thing)

I am really hoping this trip to the wonderful state of Michigan goes better than the last one, weather wise. When I was there on February 15-17, it was a nightmare. Gaylord had like 1 ½ feet of snow during our deposition. Then, while driving to my hotel in Midland, I encountered the treacherous roads from the snow.

(By the way, what is the deal with drivers there??? I saw more cars off the side of the road on 75 S… most of them were 4 wheel drive that decided to fly past me on the highway, only to lose control a mile or 2 later… if they can’t handle driving there, try having this much snow when you also have some serious hills to navigate!!! Like Pittsburgh!!!)

Anyway, sorry for the digression…

Next, about ½ way to Midland, the snow changed to freezing rain… (joy), then as I get just outside Midland, there is a torrential down pour thunder storm. WTF… the rain was actually the scariest part.

I wake up the next morning; my rental car is encased in ice. I had to kick the door to get in. Then the highway toward Detroit is a sheet of ice. I almost missed my flight, but it was delayed due to high winds and snow!!! I end up having to connect through Cincinnati, but missed the next flight to Pittsburgh, and had to wait another couple of hours. (joy)

So for this trip, I am not saving the client money by flying into Detroit & driving!!! I am flying into Traverse City and taking a cab!!! If anyone who reads this may be familiar with the area (hint… Roxi) some suggestions of a nice place for dinner in Traverse City would be appreciated.

As for this coming weekend, the only thing on the agenda, so far, is going to the hockey game on Saturday. Sure… the Penguins stink, but it is something to do. I have 4 really good seats, but still have not found butts to fill all of them.

I am still trying to think of a good place for an escape golf weekend. I have looked at Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville & San Antonio.

Any suggestions????