Daily Update

It was a personal triumph for me to leave work leisurely on time yesterday. I didn't have to dash, sneak or pretend. A few of the guys there have been lobbying for my assistance at work, so I had the choice (kind of) to come and go as I pleased.

Josh was in town for the day. He was taking refuge over at Greenfield as I got off work so I went over there to hang-out while he was in town. He decided that because he was up here, we needed to do something 'Fun'; like ice-skating or bowling. Not that we don't do anything fun, but he was having fun with it cause it was his very own idea. So after a short 30 minutes of deliberation we decided to go bowling, which turned out to be a very nice idea. Another problem arose when we had to again deliberate as to who was invited to come with. As we decided that, we also realized that there were only 4 dudes going, which wasn't to 'Hetro'. So we each got on our phones to call girls. You'd think that it would be easy, I mean who wouldn't want to go 'Last minute bowling' with 4 of the coolest guys you'd ever meet? I know, right!

So we round up some troops, but we can't go straight there, we first need to fill our tanks with food. Food from Tommy Burger to be precise. Mmmm, some the the greasiest burgers you'll ever find (its a good thing, not bad). Any paper they touch goes clear from the grease just dripping off of it. They just slid right down. The added chili is there just to remind you that you ate there later that night. We then make it over to the bowling lanes. Perfect timing! The League games were just ending, so we took over two neighboring lanes front and center; I wanted everyone to see how 'Good' I was.

Things that were funny while bowling: Jeff had surprising good technique. Not the best score, but his bowling teachers at the Byu would have been proud. All the girls there had great form too [wink + 'Heeeeeey']. (he he he, that was a joke, I'm being funny) And a surprising ringer Heather, one of the twins, beat all of our scores without even blinking! She just couldn't do wrong! During the second game she hit 8-9 pins, spare, strike, spare, 8, turkey, spare, 9, 8's all over the place. I begged her to go and buy lottery tickets cause she was on fire. No matter what she did she'd knock every pin down. Lin was there to, she was fun cause when she did good she'd jump, dance, and bounce all over the place; kind of like Tigger from Whinny the Pooh, or a bouncy ball. I didn't do that bad. It took me a while to get into my groove and perform acceptably. Mike got to know the gutter pretty well. He was practicing his Ball-Spinning, and Eyes-Closed techniques.

I just bought all the Harry Potter books, well books 1-6. I'm getting these for myself for Christmas. (tis the season, right!) It will be gift set 1 of 3-4. I'm just having trouble finding the proper Harry Potter wrapping paper. I can't wait to go through and read them again. This time I will be able to visualize ME as Harry; it will be so exciting! I can't wait to tell you more about my Wand Waving adventures.

I'm listening to Arckid right now. They are a new and upcoming band from the New York Indie-Rock scene. They're great.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out. Their Root Beer is to die for!

Evening snack time was sponsored by Diddy Reese. Shame on them for being so close to my office.

Daily Update

I left work a little early last night. I told Kristen I'd help drive her to a car dealership. It turns out this dealership is on the opposite side of town. We were going during rush-hour on the 10 freeway. I don't know where everyone else is going, but they were all in my way. It was frustrating. What was also frustrating was the fact that I almost got on the wrong freeway to begin with, and also took a painful 27 minute detour. Oops, my mistake. Traffic was super slow. I think we could have walked there faster, honestly. But anyway, so we are getting close and in a stroke of brilliance, I get in the Car-Pool lane to avoid lots and lots of cars. Well I didn't know this, but apparently Rush hour car pool rules state you need 3 people in the car, but nothing happened, It was just pointed out to me. Then, I didn't know this, but The car pool lane on the 10 east of downtown doesn't have any exits! No seriously, I'm driving furiously to make it to this dealership before they close and I see us come up on our exit and I'm to afraid to jump out of the HOV lane! I got real nervous cause of the huge fine, and my lack of car registration, and stuff like that. So we ended up going 4 or 5 more exits before I worked up the courage to jump over the double yellow lines as I darted toward an exit, U-turned, got back on the freeway going the other way to find the exit we needed. Lucky for them they stayed open till we got there, otherwise every single one of the cars on the lot would have have huge key scratches on everyone of their car door panels, possible in the shape of Jim's keys. But we didn't have to worry about that.

Halloween was last night. A bunch of us went up to In N Out burger all dressed up. It was fun. There were quite a few people dressed as Bumble Bee's this year. All varieties were represented; slutty Bee's, crazy Bee's, Drunken Bee's, Retarded Bee's, and a 'To large to be a Bee... should have been something else' Bee's. I was representing the Harry Potter pretty well. I didn't don the dress robes, but I still did well in the tie, glasses, and sweater. Jeff was pretty good too, he was Charley Brown. So after In N Out, we went to someone's house who was having a party. It was at a house. It looked like the type of house that someone would try to sneak Alcohol into during their high school years. But I didn't know any one there really, and we didn't stay that long. I think we were the only LA First ward kids there for a while too. Not that that should make it weird, but whatever. So remember from Monday's story of the Church Halloween party? ... the kid who decided to show up as one of the dudes from Broke Back Mountain? Well, he was there, and this time his costume was Greg Louganis the Olympic swimmer. All he was wearing was a speedo and a gold metal. [the following three lines have been censored]. But we left instead, and went to Greenfield to eat pumpkin pie and watch a movie.

I'm listening to a radio interview with Slash the former lead guitarist of Guns N Roses, which I will be listening to a bit later.

Lunch was sponsored by Jamba Juice and Snickers.

Oh Ya, and Emily thinks Christian Bale is "Ohhh, Sooo Tasty". I think thats disgusting. Right Emily?

Oh, and at work, everyone is telling me that we have tons to do, and we're super busy. But you know what that makes me want to do... thats right, Leave Early! But we'll see.

Daily Update

I hung out with Matt a little bit last night. He's my H.T. comp. He's a good guy. We were meeting at someone's house. I have a tendency to be late when we meet-up so I took precaution and left more than 45 minutes early. Good thing too. My gas tank was on empty and traffic was absolutely ridiculous. The second I turn onto Pico Blvd. It was like being in the Disneyland Parking lot on a Saturday during a Holiday Weekend! We were barley moving. It took 40 min to go 2 miles! Good thing I had a few extra Pumpkin Chocolate-chip Cookies with me to help me pass the time.

I helped Jessica last night learn a computer program that I was in love with at one time. Its called AutoCAD. Its the industries best computer drafting/designing program. (But the extravagant price tag makes a lot of bosses not like it. Kind of like mine.) So I've used it all through school and have learned lots about it (for the last 4-5 years). We use something different at work. Its slower and more tedious than AutoCAD I think... not that you'd care anyway. So last night as I was showing Jessica how to rev up its engine, it was like a breath of fresh air for me compared to what I use at work. I could feel its power just by pulling back on the throttle of the mouse. Typing on the keyboard was like hitting the accelerator of a new car.

In the last few days I think I've reached a drought with my emails. I used to get so many more than I currently do. I don't know if thats good or bad. I guess bunches of them lately have been crappy Junk mail. Why don't important people want to talk to me? I email them! Also, of the 9 people who's blogs I check every day, why don't they post new stuff every day? Don't they have stuff to say? I think this weekend I'm going to try to make a graph of my emailing this weekend.

Big night tonight. Does everyone have their Costumes ready? I'm not sure if I want to go to the group party, or the West Hollywood Parade. Both should be 'interesting'.

I'm listening to All American Rejects right now.

Lunch was sponsored by The Corner Bakery. It wasn't as good as it normally is. I ordered noodles, and they brought me some Cheesy Spaghetti. I wasn't sure if I should eat it cause it had bacon chunks in it, and scattered vegetables. I was about to send it back when I realized it was Halloween. I figured they were trying to make their food look scary. Cheesy sauce with bacon, bread crumbs, and Pea's all over spaghetti noodles... you're right, it was scary. But I ate it anyway.

European Picture Collage

http://picasaweb.google.com/jimcunliffe

(the link to the Visual European Adventure Highlights)
(in case you're interested)

Daily Update

Work was busy yesterday. It kept interrupting my emailing and texting. Steve ,my desk nieghbor, wore a sweatshirt that was to small for him today instead of his Safari Jacket or his Plaid Flannel shirt with a cotton Tie combo. In the Christmas card that I send him this year, its going to have a detailed description of why the Sweatshirt isn't good at covering his 'Spare Tire'.

I made a few Phone calls to a bunch of people that i know. Mostly catching up on info. After all, I have to keep myself informed if I'm going to be the leading Trafficker if Information.

At FHE we played Dodge ball and decorated cookies. I liked the cookie part. The dodge ball was a bit weird cause all the guys just wanted to throw the balls as hard as they can, no matter who was the target (girls). So all these 'Russ-like' guys were trying to show all their manly strength by hitting girls with rubber balls. Good job guys, that'll impress them. Less effective, yet entertaining none-the-less I'd say. Afterwords Jeff, Cheryl, and I went to Cafe 50's for an evening of Milk Shakes and fried potato strips.

Then I had the chance to watch TV late into the night. It was sheer bliss. I feel that getting up in the morning is almost like going to bed sometimes. Have you ever been sitting in front of the TV, and you are so tired and want to get up and stagger to your bed but just cant find the energy? Well, I know exactly how you feel. Thats how I've been for the last few nights.

I'm listening to my coworkers rant about pointless over paid pro-Basketball players.

Lunch was sponsored by Panda Express. I think Jeff is 'UP in the night' when he says that the ucla Panda is better than My Panda on Olympic. It tastes the same, serving sizes are smaller, and the line is always longer, And its hard to get to. Its like a 7 minute walk for me, Outrageous!

Daily Update

I left work early on Friday to get ready for he fabulous Halloween Party. The second I got home I quickly changed into my Harry Potter outfit. I was immediately transformed into a different person. Before I left work I had found a website with all of the Harry Potter spells listed on it, so I made a print of them in preparation of lots of spell casting that evening. Then I realized how Dorky it was so I ditched that Idea. It was a bit nerdy, but whatever. I had the tie, the sweater, the robe, the glasses, and the wand in total. People could barley tell the difference between me and the movie star Character. There were a bunch of people who we so jealous of my costume, they refused to admit publicly who I was, so they made dumb comments about my identity.

On Saturday after treating myself to a hefty helping of French toast for breakfast, I helped Kristen with Car shopping, and test driving. Ya, it was tough to put up with. The only bad part was when I started seeing stuff that I really liked. I got distracted and started loosing concentration like you wouldn't believe. I had to slap myself a few times to remind myself to think in 'Barter' mode. We had stopped by a few different places, and there was a clear difference between who was more honest, and who was trying to get away with 'mis-information'.

Church was almost average. They released Jessica from helping me, from which she has been campaigning for a while, but they didn't call a replacement! What the crap! How am I supposed to rally my committee alone? She was the one they listened to! And we have parties and auctions to plan! I started shooting my mouth off after church to all the 'decision makers' in the ward, but I probably shouldn't have. Then during church The bishop was introducing people from the pulpit, like new callings, and the missionaries, and of the three sisters who should have been there, there was only one of them that stood to wave at us all. The bishop then said, "oh, the others aren't with you." So me and my unfiltered ideas decides to blurt out the word "Awkward!" in a peculiar high pitch voice. Apparently lots of people heard, cause Everyone stared chuckling/laughing at my comment. I kind of got embarrassed, but quickly got over it.

After church on Sunday we hung out at Greenfield. After eating noodles, Jeff and I finished rounding out our Sunday evening 'Hang-Out' calendar for the rest of the year. So some of you might get emails regarding us using your place:) Hope you don't mind. So we all just hung out and gossiped about everyone in the area, famous or not. We ate all my Halloween candy for desert. I tried to get jeff to make stuff, but he's not as willing lately.

I'm listening to the quiet sounds of mouse clicks, and campus traffic right now.

Lunch was sponsored by Marvin's. Marvin's has gone downhill under the new staff. Its just not was it once was. Sad. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll still eat there. But maybe not as much. Now I'll dream of going to Salt Lake and partaking of the true Crown Burger Goodness at Christmas time.