I got my Mug! Now I just need a Shot!

At my office, we're handed out ESD-safe mugs to drink out of without being a risk for blowing up radios when we're first hired. We can then fill these mugs with coffee or other fine beverages for just 50 cents, which is great considering the vending machines charge upwards of $1.25 for less of the same thing. However, a few months ago, I noticed that my mug was smaller than most of the other employee's mugs! It seems that, before my time, they were giving out 22 oz. mugs, and then they started using 18 oz. mugs when I was hired, and switched back to 22 oz. mugs after I was hired! So, I was pretty upset that I wasn't getting as much vintage Coca-Cola Classic for my 50 cents as my colleagues were.

That all changed yesterday, as I finally got my Man-sized mug, pictured below:

I celebrated immediately by filling up a satisfying 22 ounces of orange Fanta. Thirst is now a thing of the past!

You may carry on with your normal daily activities now.

Said Musings

As promised, blog musings, and a brand new playlist in the sidebar featuring songs from Lilo and Stitch, the greatest Disney movie of this century!

As it is still college football season, it's only appropriate to reference the beat down Florida put on Kentucky this past Saturday. The weather was beautiful, a crisp 68 degree cloudy day, and our seats kicked ass, to the tune of 35 yard line, 55th row, where the stadium's stadium seating allowed us to watch the destruction to the fullest.

The ass kicking was fast and furious. We didn't score on our first drive, but on Kentucky's first and second drives, the Gator defense stopped them deep in their own territory and forced them to punt. On both occasions, the punt was blocked, giving the Gators the ball at 3 yards out and 1 yard out. After those two four-second drives, the Gators had nearly as many points (14) as they did yards (17)! In retrospect, it might not have been better if they actually had gotten those punts off, since, the way things went all day for Kentucky, it's very likely one Brandon James would have made both of those punts into zero-second touchdown drives!

The mayhem continued for most of the first half as the score at the half was 42-3. Things didn't get much better for the Wildcats in the second half - their first play from scrimmage was a pass intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Ahmad Black. Tebow stepped down in the fourth quarter and John Brantley fired a 35-yard touchdown on his second pass of the afternoon. The Gators finished the game 63-5, apparently messing up a punt in the last 5 minutes or so of the game to give Kentucky another 2 points to finish.

That win moved the Gators up to 8th in the BCS rankings... still somewhat of a long shot to the BCS National Championship, especially since the SEC's pinata (to use an awesome quote from a sportswriter I read earlier this year but can't remember who), Ohio State, couldn't muster up enough offense to beat Penn State, who will likely cruise through its remaining schedule and then get sliced and diced in the National Championship Game after nearly two months off after their last game in November...

Moving right along to musing number 2, I've been super busy at work - obviously busy enough to not be able to blog much! But I've been making up for my busy work days and homework sessions by playing a LOT of DS. I love my DS. I only wish I had toys like this when I was little. Then again, that probably would have resulted in me doing a lot less of just about everything else. My latest project game has been Trauma Center, one of the earliest releases on Nintendo's two-screened handheld. You play as Dr. Derek Stiles, an up-and-coming surgeon who is gifted with the "Healing Touch". Unfortunately, with great power comes great responsibility, and it is Dr. Stiles' responsibility to curb a medical terrorist attack epidemic called GUILT. The game is fast-paced, with great music, and tough as nails. Diamond ones. I seriously feel my tennis elbow acting up as I furiously remove tumors and stitch up lacerations in my patients!

Final musing for the day - couple of days ago, I came across the latest Consumer Reports reliability rankings for cars. To my delight, and a bit of surprise, the number one brand for reliability was Scion! Scion's xD came in as the most reliable vehicle in the country, with the xB following closely behind. Behind Scion was Acura, Honda, then Toyota and Lexus, with Lincoln coming in at 11th as the highest ranked American manufacturer. I guess there's another good reason to love Scions - they'll last forever!

Obama - McCain Dance Off!

Another cop-out today. I was going to put in a real post, with real musings, but this was too awesome to pass up - the real elections should be based on the results of such an event. Keep an eye out for real musings soon though!

Awesomeness

Nothing to say today, just thought that was really, really cool looking. And accurate too!

Poster Child for Inconsistency

People take their shots on McDonald's when they can, but that's what happens when you're at the top of your game. The secret to McDonald's success? In my humble opinion, it's a lil' something called consistency. Sure, McDonald's customizes its menu for different markets all over the world, but you'll find certain items at every McDonald's restaurant in the world - Big Mac (except for India's restaurants, I'm told), and French Fries. The best part? No matter where you order your Number 1 Combo Meal, it will always taste the same. Even Coca-Cola doesn't have that kind of consistency in its main product - those of you who have traveled abroad know that Coke is quite a bit sweeter outside of the U.S. This remarkable consistency is a big reason for why McDonald's has been able to be successful in just about every market it has entered in its 51 years or so of existence.

So, what's up with the McSkillet Burrito? I discovered this delectable breakfast item a few weeks ago when I was driving back to Melbourne from Gainesville. I've never been a big breakfast kind of guy - most breakfasts that don't consist of milk and cereal seem to be too, what's the word, not lunch and dinner-like. I know, that doesn't really make any sense, but the bottom line is, I don't like breakfast food. But the McSkillet Burrito - now that is some good breakfast food. Scrambled eggs, onions, green peppers, potatoes, a spicy red sauce, and real steak wrapped in a flour tortilla - doesn't get much better than that! But then it starts getting weird. I've had the McSkillet three times now, and each time it has tasted slightly different. The first time, there was so much red sauce that I got some all over myself... and a little on the car too (heartbreaking reference to the King of Queens). The second time, it seemed like there wasn't any sauce at all! Turns out, most of it was just concentrated at one end of the burrito. The last time I had a McSkillet, someone must have dropped the steak in the seasoning rub, because it was very, very seasoned. Don't get me wrong, though, all three times, the MckSkillet Burrito tasted great, but it was different. It might not be a bad thing, kind of like a surprise waiting for you every time you order it!

So, I'm somewhat okay with that kind of inconsistency. But the kind of inconsistency the Gators are showing this year is less easy to be okay with. Again, don't get me wrong, I am very, very, very happy that we found some kind of way to finally use the speed that we've been recruiting over the last four years or so. My only question is, where was this speed and "clicking on all cylinders" look three weeks ago? In the Gator's 51-21 shellacking of LSU, we seemed to finally make all the right calls, executing beautifully our spread option look, spreading the opposing defense wide with a passing look and then gashing them for a long run. We also looked pretty stout on defense, except for the end of the second quarter and the beginning of the third. In fact, we held LSU to zero - that's right, a big goose egg - yards in the first quarter. That's yards, folks, not points. We scored on runs, passes, and interception returns - even Kestahn Moore got a little action at the end of the game, scoring his first TD run of his senior season, though scatbacks Chris Rainey (who, interestingly, had an article done on him this week in the Alligator where several teammates agreed with my assessment of Rainey as, well, retarded) stole the show with several long runs and TDs.

Around the country, Number 1 Oklahoma fell to number 5 Texas in the Red River Shootout, previously unbeaten Missouri and their Heisman frontrunner quarterback was upset by Oklahoma State, Wisconsin was KTFO'd by Penn State, and surprise of the season Vanderbilt lost to Mississippi State - hopefully, the Gators can get some consistency and momentum off of this week's game and finish the rest of the season unscathed, but in this age of college football parity, anyone can beat anyone on any given Saturday. Or Thursday, Friday, Wednesday, and sometimes Tuesday! I would say that it's just way too much excitement for my simple brain, but I'd be lying - it makes every game a must watch!

Childhood Friends

Last few days have seemed extraordinarily long - even the weekend! I suppose the long weekend wasn't really a surprise because I was at class for most of it. Granted, I spent a lot of my time in class playing Picross, but 16 hours of class over two days is still a lot to get through!

The Gators managed to rebound after our upset to Ole' Miss last week... sort of. I didn't get a chance to actually watch the game - instead, I was following it using internet updates during class - but I did manage to see that we were absolutely killing ourselves with stupid penalties and getting gashed by Arkansas' not-so-famous offense. They were only able to score once in the whole game, but they got to the red zone with ease several times only to turn the ball over or have a field goal blocked. Florida didn't really pull away until the two long runs by Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps in the fourth quarter - but I still don't know that we can count on them against a good defense, say, LSU's this week. We're really going to have to bring our A+ game this Saturday!

On Sunday, I had lunch with a childhood friend. I first met Todd in 1988, when my family first moved to Spoonbill Lane. I was just six years old, and he was probably five, but I'm not sure these days. Todd also had a little brother named Zach, and, along with Mike and Dave next door, the three sets of brothers (Ed, in my case) were best friends for the six years that we lived there. I can't really say much about other people's childhoods, but my experiences with those five kids are still clear to this day.

At some point, we formed the STB (Squirrel, Turtle, and Bird) club to somewhat formalize our friendship. Todd and Zach were the Squirrels, Mike and Dave were the Birds, and Ed and I were the Turtles. Together, we had several events, often dreamed up by Todd. Such events included an Olympics type event, various neighborhood sales, declarations of war on other kids in the neighborhood (although Todd is actually probably one of the most peaceful kids I know), STB Radio, STB theme parks, and so on. I don't remember who it was now, but someone came up with another clever definition for the acronym, "Salute To Boys". Todd always had a penchant for Disney, so it didn't surprise me that he was now in the hospitality industry and had at one point worked at one of the hotels in the Disney resort.

Summertime seemed like straight out of a Calvin and Hobbes summer series back in those days, complete with our version of Calvinball (which, if you know what Calvinball is, is not much different from actual Calvinball). Living in Florida, we didn't have the national park-like backyard that Calvin and Hobbes often rode their wagon through, but we did have a wagon - several, in fact. On the other hand, Calvin and Hobbes didn't have a pool - pool parties were a staple of our summers. For several years, we would also attend a church camp (I actually attended Sunday School back in those days and was part of the Kids Choir) over the summer.

Todd also introduced me to several of my passions today. Both he and Mike were among the first kids to get Nintendo at their house, and I vividly remember hours after hours of playing the original Super Mario Bros., Tecmo Super Bowl, and the Tiny Toons game. Although my parents had Atari right around when I was born, Nintendo was my first real video game love. Todd and his parents were also very big Seminoles (in fact, he ended up going to school at FSU), so my first real college football watching experience was 1992's National Championship between FSU and Nebraska. It's a little odd these days since I eventually became the die-hard Gator I am today!

I've met up with Todd two, maybe three times since moving from Spoonbill Lane. It had actually been close to ten years since our last meeting in 1999, when he was still in high school! It's a shame we didn't get to spend more time this weekend, but he lives pretty close by, so I'm sure we'll have the opportunity to hang out again someday.

Catch Up Time

Wow, it's been a long time since I've had such a long hiatus from writing! I guess the end of the fiscal year might have something to do with it, although in the past, it was never this hot. Or, maybe it was, but I never noticed because I was just a small fry. I'm still a small fry, but now I'm a seasoned small fry - kind of like the ones at Checkers!

The last couple weeks have been characterized by rhythm. Although I have been getting into work shamefully late day after day, I've also been staying late most days. Not super late, but later than usual. And it's not because I'm just dragging my feet to make it look like I'm working hard so I get a good review at the end of the year - I've actually had quite a bit of legitimate work. Really!

I managed to put on quite a few pounds in 2008 - by design at that. The goal was to bulk up on protein and carbs and then hit the gym to convert the additional 15 pounds into muscle. About 2 weeks ago, I weighed in at about 160 pounds, which is about 20 pounds heavier than my typical weight in college. I could lift about 225 pounds for a three-rep set on bench press. Unfortunately, after that, I was pretty much done, and couldn't really do much more exercise after that. Clearly, my plan wasn't really working, so I began a different plan - full body workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and once over the weekend, and kung fu on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and possibly once on the weekend as well. I've also shifted my diet to a lot of fruit juice and salad, and since then, I've dropped down to about 155 pounds, and I feel like I've made some gains in stamina and athleticism!

I've also finally gotten back into a little bit of rhythm when it comes to doing homework. This semester, our classes are quite a bit easier than last semester, and for a while, I got a bit lazy and wasn't really keeping up with schoolwork. However, I've finally gotten off my butt and completed my take-home Quality Management exam and the two Marketing Management assignments due this weekend. I even started my Marketing Management project, which is due in late November! Unprecedented!

Unfortunately, the Florida Gators didn't share my good rhythm last weekend, as we dropped a heartbreaker to Ole' Miss. Granted, Ole' Miss is a rising team with former Arkansas coach Houston Nutt and former Florida QB recruit Jevan Snead at the helm, but the Gators really killed themselves this time. Three fumbles lost, after not having turned the ball over once all season, plus atrociously poor playcalling (fourth and 3 in the first quarter? Run Chris Rainey up the middle??), and the unthinkable - a blocked extra point attempt - all contributed to the final 31-30 loss.

On the plus side, the Tri-Fectorate, that's Chris, Kaveh, and myself for those of you who haven't read Grant's Pad in its early months, met for the first time as a group since 2006 after the game. Kind of funny - looks like I wasn't the only one to put on weight these last few years! Of course, going to Red Lobster for their annual Endless Shrimp event didn't do much to help halt the problem of our growing bellies...

A couple of my friends have finally jumped on the Nintendo Wii bandwagon. First, my good friend Pablo picked one up - shortly after he went on a big shopping spree picking up first-person shooters and splurging on Virtual Console games like the original Super Mario Bros. Next, my colleague Shawn (been a while since I've blogged about him!) recently picked up a Wii "for his wife and kid". Riiiight. He must have practiced a lot of Mario Kart, because he's pretty damn good. In our first gaming session, I was able to smoke him most of the time after dropping the first few races, but on the very next day, I dropped all three sets to him! Playing Mario Kart with him has somewhat revived my Wii playing time, which has been suffering a bit lately (due to aforementioned rhythm and also largely due to spending a lot of time on my DS). After racing Shawn, Nick, and Chris several times this week, I managed to unlock my latest character - Birdo, who I thought was the last remaining racer to unlock. To my shock, however, unlocking him/her opened up four more question mark blocks, indicating that there were at least four more racers to unlock! Guess I better get to work unlocking them!