A view from the top

So What..

2006-11-13T20:56:00.000-05:00

My last post was July 25th. Hmm... That's a whole lifetime... Well, let me tell ya. I haven't changed, everyone else has. For instance, my Firefox browser now HIGHLIGHTS things that are spelled wrong, like MS Word. Fucking fantastic. Now I get a reminder that I'm a horrible typist with every press of the spacebar. No seriously, it's been an interesting road. Work kinda sorta smoothed out. It's all relative really. It all depends on who ships what when.. The issue isn't when I sent the PO, it's when it's shipped. Stacie, she's been gone a lot.. I swear, she'll stay skinny.. She runs around everywhere.. Kinda like Carmen San Diego but without the hat and the trench coat.

Beer, Linux, Redheads and Lates

2006-07-25T19:31:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a whirlwind this month has been. It never ceases to amaze me, no matter how smart you think you are.. Someone will come along and honestly make you feel like a chimp. The lesson of the day is, never EVER think you have anything figured out. I swear, the way things are going, I'm actually shocked that I know how to get to my house every night.. The sooner we realize that the world doesn't give a shit about you, the better off we are. It still spins whether you're in it or not. Mark Twain said it best "The World doesn't owe you anything, it was here first". My life right now is a weird paradox. At home, I'm mello, somewhat geeky and altogether shy.. At work, you'd think I was the most popular motherfucker between Ft Wayne and Toledo Ohio. It's also odd too.. That no-one can totally relate to where I'm at right now in my life, I don't have anyone to talk to. I guess I'm just stuck in the middle of what defines me personally and professionally. My personal life is really boring.. I sit at home and play on my Linux box.. Now, that really get's the girl's juices flowing doesn't it?

Just Write

2006-07-07T22:37:00.000-04:00

I don't know, it seems to me that I'm supposed to be able to do it all. How, under the god given creation do you make everyone happy at the same time? Professionally, I feel like my hands are tied sometimes, like everyone looks to me for an answer but, has a glare in their eye that just speaks volumes...Sorta like saying this "Eric, this is your responsiblity.. Why don't you know X (Insert issue here)? Seriously, if I knew everything that needed to be done, I wouldn't be so scared shitless most of the time. It's like this, I'm 24, I know some things, basically it's instinct.. Not like I have much real world experience to back me up but anyway... I do the best I can with what I can.. If you don't like it.. I don't know what to tell you.. I get sidelined and beaten down on an hourly basis. Is this how it's suppposed to be? All fucked up? I mean, I thought "Okay, this bitch is mine.. I control it, I decide it's fate.. It's mine.. I made my mind up, work within the ruleset.. The ruleset being, work within mindset of trying to make the best decisions I can with my company in mind.. Not hard to ask right? In a perfect world, I'd imagine that would be quite simple.

In college, you learn about Lean, Kanban.. Blah blah.. Seriously, any buisness book I've taken a class in teaches you how to manage a supply chain. That works great, unless the parts don't come in and you get bitched at constantly by outside customers.. What the fuck do you do? No book teaches you that.

That's where I'm at.. Want to do the best I can, but can't. Nobody cares, it's you against the world. I don't give a shit about the money I make, I just want shit to work out. I want my customer and my bosses to look at me and say "Good kid, no issues with how he does things".. Yeah right. I'm failing and I get up everyday and do it again.

Another little fact.

2006-02-21T21:48:00.000-05:00

Ya know, after listening to NeoFiles, Episode 29. The whole "Unlawfully wiretapping" and the google debate thing..I'll summarize it for you.. Most things you do, of your own free will, are categorized and cataloged somewhere online. Both of the previously stated issues: Google refusing to devulge information to the Government and the Bush Administration's "issue" dealing with unauthorized wiretaps.

I must say, blogging, it seems you find more out about yourself than most people would even care to know. My own personal timeline, what I thought about certain situations as I understood them at the time; that's actually a pretty remarkable thing. Now, you may ask, why publish it for the world to see? Good question, it's often one I struggle with myself on an introspective level. If you meet me personally, I'm not that forthcoming with my past. I guess the answer is simply..eyes... In the real world, you always have people judging you as you present yourself DIRECTLY to them. On the internet, blogging specifically, it's just me on my computer. Here I am sitting indian style, in flannel pants, just typing. Do I care if anyone reads it.. not really, I said it. That's good enough.

Interesting

2006-02-21T21:38:00.000-05:00

Ya know.. A whole lot is being said about the "USA Wiretapping" thing vs. the Google debate. If you're curious, please visit NeoFiles dot com, episode 29

It's Amazing

2005-12-13T21:18:00.000-05:00

Ya know, I used to think, even as near as a couple months ago.. That everything was fine. I was happy in my own little world with my own little house and everything. It's stunning to me how adaptable we all become as we get older. I'll tell ya, my job 3 years ago is nothing like it is today. I used to be able to fade away, do my work and go home. Now, I can't do anything but work, always have a problem to fix.. A job packet to quote.. A dispute to settle. What's most shocking is, that protective ignorance that I used to have is now gone. I used to think that, if you put in the hard work, things would get easier. That's probably the furthest thing from the truth. Yeah, it's stressful.. The world doesn't care about you.. That you are responsible for every word that you utter. I mean, people's jobs are at stake, even yours in some cases. You stand on your own two feet with nothing protecting you anymore. Sometimes all I can do is stand back in awe. I mean, people come to ME for answers, for work, for me to protect them.. To shield them from the harsh working world that we are all now involved in. I get looked up to.. An example.. a curse word muttered behind my back as I leave. I'm an admiration and a politician; a stern voice as well as the guy that will stand up for you when you didn't do anything wrong. I have 3 eyes that judge me almost constantly. Everything I miss-step, it's not just me that it hurts. That's a shitload of responsibility. I wouldn't have it any other way. Like I said, it's amazing how adaptable we are..

One more thing..

2005-11-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving.

Black Friday.

The best part. Spike Tv's "Bondathon"

"Something we're building for the Americans, it's called a Ghettoblaster"-Q

Opera Browser

2005-11-26T12:49:00.000-05:00

I tell ya, ever since they made Opera 8.5 free, I love it to death. I think it's better than Firefox.

Blogs.. The ones I like

2005-11-26T12:38:00.000-05:00

Hi. It's been a while, about 5 months since I last made an entry here. I don't really have a good reason. Sorry.

I don't like the taste of my own puke.

2005-06-12T23:30:00.000-05:00

I went to a bonfire last night (Saturday). I drank a liberal amount of the foamy stuff, not drunk, just didn't give a fuck. I realized a while ago that being hammered wasn't much fun anymore. I guess that it's age or just maturity (trust me, the two are not mutually exclusive). I love doing stuff like that.

Fort Wayne Indiana

2005-04-26T22:03:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, one of the most forgotten cities in American history. Let's see, I've lived here or around here my whole entire 23 years of existence. From my crazy and somewhat tragic birth on that cold Halloween morning to my work a day presence I now possess. I'm using the information you just read as my license to complain. Complain about what you ask? Let's have a little history lesson.

Fort Wayne was founded in 1794 as a revolutionary war fort (hence the "Fort" part of our city name) by General Anthony Wayne (hence the "Wayne" part of our city name). Now this fort I speak of exists still, even though it is now a dying shithole on Spy Run Avenue. Now, Fort Wayne (downtown anyway) sits on the convergence of three primary rivers: The St. Mary's, St. Joe and Maumee. This is somewhat important because, at the time, they hadn't quite figured out the whole airplane/car thing yet but they could pile a bunch of stuff on a boat and float it around. This made Fort Wayne a primary trading post for settlers and such.

Now we fast forward a few decades... Around the 20th Century..
This crazy guy that always had tussled hair named Thomas Edison owned a company called the Edison Electric Company, which merged with Fort Wayne Electric Works.. Making present day General Electric. Now, GE does have quite a presence here.. The cool looking complex on Broadway Ave. Is unmistakable. Bet ya didn't know that huh?

The NBA. Here's a real shocker.. The NBA was basically invented here with the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons which later became the Detroit Pistons. I ask you, how many people actually know this? Not many. Quite sad really.

Tokheim. If you've ever pumped gas, you have Tokheim to thank. They invented the modern day gas pump. Tokheim was initially based in Iowa but moved to Fort Wayne in 1918 where they stayed until the mid 1990's and got bought out by some damn company in Paris France. This one burns me to no end.. A company that's based here gets moved to France.. France of all places in the world.

Lincoln Financial Corp. Now, I'm no fan of insurance. But the Philadephia Eagles have Fort Wayne to thank for that great stadium they play in. That company was founded here but left for some reason and now is headquartered in Philly. Lincoln is still in Fort Wayne, not headquartered here but still. In fact, they have this huge neon sign on the building stating it's the "home office". It's not, they're lying to you.

Here's the point. If you've noticed a pattern, a lot of great companies have contributed a great deal to my hometown but they all left.

This is why I love this city.. They spend so much money on the new "Grand Wayne Center" (construction makes Washington Blvd a pain in the ass) and filling potholes but they can't get a freaking company to stay in city limits. Granted, potholes and sewage systems are mainstays of any city.. But come on people.. I blame politicians mostly. Graham Richard (Mayor) He's a nice guy, but filling a pothole isn't going to matter a whole hell of a lot when people can't find jobs to go to so they can drive on those pristine roads. Nobody has balls in this town anymore. People were inventing things left and right in this town 50 years ago.. What the hell happened? Is it the 2001 recession? Yeah right.. Is it the fact that we spend so much time worrying about the mysterious booming sounds on State Blvd that we can't get our heads out of our asses long enough to get a dose of reality? BINGO!!! .

I feel better now..

Grab yourself a copy of the January issue of Men's Health, flip to the "dumbest cities" list, BOOM! There we are, at No. 1. That's bullshit... We're better than that, I know it.. Are we gonna let some muscle head magazine tell us we're stupid.. I think not.

My credo

2005-04-24T17:19:00.000-05:00

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." -Albert Einstein

Now, me and Einstein never really got along in the mathmatical sense. I basically failed Physics in college, yet somehow pulled off a miracle on the final and ended up passing. I realize I haven't been blogging much.. Not much has really changed in my life. I will tell you however, about my introspective Friday night. I'm sitting there, watching Van Wilder with an Icehouse lager in my lap. Now, through deductive reasoning and 6 previous Icehouse lager's, I feel that this chain reaction triggered such introspection. These are the truths of Eric. My pillars of reason, my rules to live by:

Don't call me 6 times in a row when a voicemail after the first call would do the trick.

Just because I make eye contact while someone is speaking, it doesn't mean I'm paying attention.

When I get drunk, I have a tendancy to hug people I don't know. I'm comfortable with this fact.

I tend to monitor my drinking somewhat, I drink until happy then back off.. I discovered that I don't like the taste of my own vomit.

My kitchen is painted burgandy and I have a wine theme. I like it. I don't care if you don't.

Cuddling is cool with me.

I've been in Karate for 8 years, this DOES NOT mean that I go searching for fist fights.

I do own a handgun, I carry it often. To some, this means I'm a murderer... To that I say, Fuck off and grow up.

I can't figure out why everybody wants me to get married all the sudden, if it happens, it happens. I'm not looking for it.

I don't know why idiots seem to want challenge me to a drag race in downtown 5 o'clock traffic.

I don't care if you think Chevy or Ford are great cars, Honda and Toyota are better than either.

I can't quite figure out the "Buy American cars" theme, my Honda was built in East Liberty Ohio.. So it's an American car, right?

Well, I'm gonna go, gotta mow the grass..

Sigh...

2005-04-02T00:55:00.000-05:00

The pope is probably going to pass away here shortly. I was flipping through the channels, ended up on Fox News where it's been NONSTOP coverage for the past 7 hours. Funny thing is, the pope is still alive, the Vatican hasn't offically made a statement (as you know EVERYTHING is unofficial at the Vatican these days), so Fox is split screening St. Peter's in Vatican City and the studio in New York.. So, for 7 plus hours it's basically been dead air for these journalists. These are the moments I live for.. Journalists making up conversation just to pass the time, let's see if they're worth what they're paid.

You must understand, I'm not catholic, I have no real attachment to the pope personally. About a year ago, I bought "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catholicism" just so I wouldn't feel like an idiot going to my girlfriend's church. The catholic church was the best workout I ever got in Docker's and a tie. Stand Up, Sit Down, Stand in Line, Kneel, Bow, Kneel again, Stand Up again. I was waiting anxiously for the Tae-Bo guy to come running up to the alar and teach us some jump kicks or something.

My trials and tribulations of going to a catholic church are plentiful. Things like getting caught red handed mouthing words to the hymn instead of actually singing them. I also had a major sneezing fit right in the middle of the sermon.. I mean, I COULD NOT STOP..

I've decided though, that dogma such as that isn't my cup of tea. I do admire the pope though, I can't really fault him and I do think he made great strides in dealing with "other" religions-such as mine-perhaps he helped squash some of the competition that's been created by the breaches of Christianity. I'm all up for free market competition (those damn liberatarians) but I'm not sure if the church is the correct place for competition.

The pope will be missed by both Catholics and non-Catholics.