Bringing the Drama

so i’m still going to the gym, and have had run-ins with CGG. this evening i was able to avoid him by the grace of God. he totally missed seeing me while i’m right out in the open doing some shoulder exercises. i have failed to tell you about what happened about a week and a half ago. i recounted this story at IHOP after the high school football game last week and will now document it for the internet.

on Fridays i get there earlier than the other two days i go because i’m either off work early or because i don’t have work. so it’s almost unavoidable to see CGG on Fridays. two Fridays ago, i had gone and pretty much almost finished my entire workout before having probably the creepiest yet. i had seen him walking around, but of course just kept to myself. i had finished my three sets and only had one burnout set to do. (incidentally, the burnout set idea was from when Matt the intern would workout with Andy, Chad, and I and it’s basically one set of one exercise with a lower weight, which you do until you ‘burnout’). i had gotten some water and i thought i had avoided CGG, but when i turn the corner to go back to the weight room, BAM, there he is. i had to shake his hand or something like a “hey, what’s up?” deal, and i THOUGHT that was all. i walk into the weight room, i had my hand on the bar and he comes up to me. the conversation went something like this:

CGG: “hey scott, what kind of engineer are you at [Company Awesome]?”
me: “mechanical”
CGG: “oh yeah? and you do drawing like on the computer?”
me: “yeah”
CGG: “cool, so could you draw stuff like gym equipment?”
me: “not really. most of what i do is airplane stuff”
[i thought at the time how i wanted to go "UNLESS IT IS GETTING LAUNCHED INTO SPACE, I CAN'T DRAW IT!", but i guess me being nice helped me hold my tongue]
CGG: “oh okay”
me: “couldn’t you draw it like on paper or something?”
CGG: “oh no, my brother owns the place (and i thought “i’ll never get him fired!”) and i’m an MD but i’ve been out of practice for 4 years (i thought “i can tell you why!”) and we can’t draw anything”
me: “well, i guess you could go to a sports therapist and see where they get drawings for stuff, i have no idea”
CGG: “oh, okay, well, have a good weekend”

WTF? i could see where he was going with his questions. he was going to see if i could draw it for him, and there was no way ever that i would do that. i don’t get it. i was talking to a friend at dinner tonight, and he knows a guy who used to be a trainer at the gym i go to, who is now a trainer at a gym closer to my house. if the other gym is around the same price, i might be switching. i deal with enough ridiculous creepy stuff at work, like BO Guy’s trip to Colombia coming up in a couple of weeks (wait till i post about that!) that i would like to minimize the creepy/weird stuff as much as possible. i mean, yes, i am awesome, but at least my eye doctor only calls my cell phone for about a week after i go once a year. he doesn’t ask me about drawing new eye care equipment.

as if i didn’t need anymore motivation for the football games to watch today, i went to my high school alma mater (Northshore) and watched them take on their main rival (Slidell). my senior year was the FIRST time Northshore ever beat Slidell. beating them was a BIG DEAL. it takes up at least a couple of pages in my senior book (yes, i felt compelled to make one of those, but it’s basically just pictures and newspaper clippings). i was a jerk about the rivalry the rest of the year to people in my youth group. it was kind of awesome.

i haven’t been back to the school for a football game in a long time. i may have gone with my friend Ryan (who’s now in NC) but i don’t think so. for last night’s game, i emailed the young adult group at my church to see if anyone wanted to go. i had a couple of takers, so we were all going to meet at the school. the parking was INSANE! i made it in and walked up to the bleachers just as they kicked off. my friend Ehren was the first one there, and as we walked up to the bleachers, i told her i used to hate walking in front of everyone in the bleachers when i was in HS. i don’t know why, but i was. last night, we walked in front of everyone looking for a seat. we found one about the 35 yard line.

the only bad part of our seats were this lady in front of us who brought confetti to the game. CONFETTI! everytime Northshore did something good, she’d throw it, all over, which meant it got all over the people in front of her, and around her. i’ve heard of air horns at games, and signs, but confetti? i don’t recommend bringing it to a game unless you’re surrounded by a good sized radius of people who are cool with it.

the game was fantastic! of course, it had it’s sloppy moments with a lot of fumbles and penalties, but for a high school game i thought they looked decent. both QBs played really well i thought. apparently the NHS QB went 20-32 for 327 yards! they don’t give you stats during a HS game, and there’s always that announcer who’s RIGHT IN YOUR EAR it seems giving you a sort of play by play using the nicknames of the players. my old AP Am History teacher made an XP at halftime and apparently won a year’s supply of Chick Fil A sandwiches. the 2nd half was a lot more exciting, esp the 4th quarter. Northshore scored with 7 minutes to play, then Slidell scored with 3:27 to play, then Northshore got the winning TD with 46 seconds to play! the D finally rose up and stopped Slidell on the final drive, and then pandemonium ensued. it was great. i don’t know exactly how many times Northshore’s won this game since i graduated, but i felt very proud.

so the morning after the awesome Halloween party, i went and ran in a 5k. it was the fall edition of the Crescent City Classic, and the people who would be able to run it in under 25 minutes would get a timing chip for the spring 10k. i’ve been running at least 4 miles multiple times a week for the last couple, so i figured i might have a shot at the 25 minute mark. i got to City Park without much time to spare, and was walking up to the start area as the race started. there weren’t very many other people running, and for some reason once those people started, they started taking all the start area stuff down! i didn’t even know where the start line was! some guy suggested i just run to catch up with the group, so that’s what i did. i passed a big group of walkers, and by about the first half mile, i was out running my own pace without having to jump the curb and avoid a big group of slower people. i had no idea my pace, i was too concentrated on keeping up a fast one. when i entered the stadium for the finish, i saw the clock was past 25 minutes, and i finished in 27:22. my ipod told me i only ran 2.89 miles, so i didn’t even run the full 5k according to it. i know i didn’t start that far ahead of wherever the start was, so i suspect the ipod was off. they had you write down your time, and then turn it in, so theoretically i could have written down a sub 25 minute time, but i decided to be truthful (stupid morals!). they had beer and jambalaya available, but it was 9 in the morning, and i had just run 3 miles, so i went with a banana and some gatorade. i got my race shirt, and headed home.

i basically watched football and rested during the day, because i was going to the Hornets’ home opener with my dad that night. welcome to another year of basketball pictures from the upper deck! (below: LeBron surveying the court)

the game was great, and it was good to be going to a game again. it’s felt like forever since the infamous game 7. it was fun sitting in the crowd, making jokes about players, complaining home team players didn’t at least act like they were taking a charge, and high fiving strangers. the game was a lot closer than last year’s Cavs game, which made it more interesting. i’m going again on Wednesday and then next week to the Lakers game. i can’t wait! i didn’t renew my season tickets because of the high possibility i’d be moving, but man, i sure was kicking myself for not renewing. i’m still thinking about it, especially after my cousin said he’d buy my remaining tickets if i moved.

i went yesterday to the gym. i saw CGG. i avoided making eye contact with him walking over to where the locker room is. he was talking with some guy amongst the machines. i get into the locker room and am facing the lockers and i get a pat on the shoulder “Hey Scott, working out again?” he went to the back of the locker room to get something, and then on his way back, stops and goes “you still rehabbing that shoulder?” “yeah” “cool, i rehabbed mine earlier”. that was it, he was gone. the awkward conversation was shorter than last time, but no less creepy. i went and worked out, and noticed he had left, so i’m thinking he gets done with work about 5:30, so i guess the key is to go after that time. i don’t plan on changing my schedule or anything, but i will remember for next time.

today was supposed to be a day i go running. i ended up not going, so i feel a little lazy, but i want to get to bed early tonight (BEFORE 10 pm!), so i figured it best not to go running 4 miles at 8:30. however, i did get some great deals on stuff on my way home. i went shopping for a new set of headphones to use when i go run, because the $8 pair i bought at Walmart have been falling out of my ears. apparently if i go on a long enough run, my ear sweats a certain way that makes the right headphone fall out. i googled some better headphones and found people recommending these funky green ones. i stopped by Target on the way home (i had stayed late at work, so it was like 6:30 when i got there). they didn’t have the green ones, and the ones they did have i wasn’t really into. i decided to take a walk over to Circuit City. before i left Target, i noticed the Lego Star Wars game for Wii was on clearance for $20. i was tempted, but i was on a mission. at CC i saw one of my friends from work so i talked to her about property taxes (we live in the same neighborhood) and work issues. after talking with her, i found my way to the headphones. they were a bit hard to find, and of course when you actually need an employee in this case, they are all somewhere else. anyway, i found the ones i saw at Target that i wasn’t too jazzed about, and they were $4 cheaper. nice! as i’m walking away, i look for any alternatives, and i saw the green ones! they were on clearance for $22! SCORE! i bought them. then i went back over to Target and bought the Star Wars game. i got home about 8:00 thus not going to go run. i’ll be back at it Thursday morning though (no work Thursday because of MRI and then RA ROAD TRIP 2008! [more on that later])

the three teams i care most about in football are the Saints, Clemson, and LSU. before Sunday, i had to endure all three losing in excruciating fashion, especially the first two. the Saints game last Monday night was at the time one of the worst games i’ve seen in a long time. they made SO MANY mistakes, and then still, in spite of the mistakes and the bad calls from the officials, had a chance to win at the end. unfortunately they did not. i still had hope, because Clemson was playing on Thursday and they had beaten Wake Forest two years in a row. however, they came out and looked AWFUL. the entire game was a train wreck. neither team could do anything. then Clemson scored a TD to take a 7-3 lead, but ultimately fell 12-7. awful. and now they are pretty much out of the ACC title hunt. also, now the fans are in turmoil with all the controversy surrounding the coaching staff. okay, that’s fine, because LSU still had to play. LSU looked the worst of the three teams and lost by 30. THIRTY! ugh.

yesterday’s Saints game made up for a lot, because they looked great, offensively and defensively. it didn’t exactly make me feel like a couple of weeks ago, but it makes me think they are geniunely one of the better 3-3 teams. look out Carolina!

today Clemson’s head coach stepped down. i was a little distraught after the Alabama game, but got over it. after the Maryland game, i really was upset with the offensive coordinator, but also the QB. after Wake though, i wanted someone fired. esp after Auburn fired their OC. why couldn’t Clemson do the same? the timing of today’s announcement surprised me, but not the result. if it turns out that they can get the new coach they want, then that’s cool. the most upsetting thing is the whiny comments from the former starting QB who was benched the other day, but with the head coaching change, may be restored to being starter. i would hope not, because a leader who’s into kicking someone when they’re down and not taking responsibility is not someone i want leading my team.

so long Coach Bowden. i’ll always remember the first game against Marshall in 1999. the 62-9 win over Missouri. the heartbreak i felt after GT in 2000. the euphoria after “the catch” in 2000. the OT win over GT in 2001. (MCKELVEY……TOUCHDOWN!) the miraculous win over FSU in 2003. 63-17. the 2004 Peach Bowl. 1st and 35. the incredible games in 2006. 7-2 against the gamecocks. thanks for all you’ve done for my school.

[shoulder update: i went for my 2nd appointment at the orthopedist on Wednesday and he recommended another month of PT. i had talked it over with the PT i had been seeing, and decided i would ask for an MRI if he did not recommend it first. i asked him about getting an MRI done now, because of the job possibilities (nothing yet, but i don't want the shoulder thing hanging out there if i don't have to) and a limit on PT visits in a year. he understood, and i have an MRI scheduled for next week.]

ever since i started going to PT for my shoulder, i’ve been going to the gym three times a week to lift weights and stuff. the PT place is at the gym, so i figured i had no excuse to not go lift weights afterward because IT IS RIGHT THERE! anyway, i am able to do everything that doesn’t involve lifting something over my head or machines where my arm is lifted. one of the first times i started going, this gym employee kind of startled me because i was reading something on a bulletin board, and this guy walks right by me and goes “hey” as i’m turning around. he kind of sideled up to me because i had no idea he was going to be right there. we had this awkward “i didn’t mean to scare you/oh don’t worry, it’s okay” conversation. now though, every time since that i’ve seen him, he makes sure to say hey. it’s kind of creepy. when i go to the gym, i just want to work out, i don’t want to have awkward head nods or conversations.

fast forward to today…..i walk up to get my keychain scanned by one of the people at the desk and there’s the guy! and as the girl behind the desk starts to walk over, he goes “no, i got this one” (creepy). apparently he thinks he’s my friend. so he scans my keychain which pulls up my info and he says “have a good workout scott”. i hate that! they used to have the scanner where you could scan the keychain yourself, but they changed it a few months ago, and now you have to have one of the employees scan it. so sometimes they use your name which bugs me because i don’t know their name, but they are telling me to have a good workout. anyway, so i go change clothes and start doing PT on my shoulder (i’ve stopped going to actual PT until i get MRI results) and Creepy Gym Guy comes up to me. he says “looks like you’re rehabbing your shoulder, what’d you do to it?” so i had to tell him how i didn’t know, and it might be a torn labrum or an impinged muscle, they don’t know, i won’t know until i get an MRI, etc. nothing i wanted to talk about with someone i didn’t know, i just wanted to pull the handle on this machine down 25 times and move on. so then he starts saying how he messed up his shoulder and he had to do rehab and how he missed playing golf, then he asked me if i played golf. i was wishing the guy would leave me alone. i get it, i get that he wants to be friendly, but i don’t want to talk to him. he asked me where i played golf, and i told him the course out by my house, but only cause it’s the cheapest. he said he knows a guy that lives out there, and if i know him. (there’s like 500 people in that neighborhood, i don’t know anyone) i told him i didn’t, so he says “oh, he’s probably 10 years older than you, what are you like 28?” i answered “yeah, something like that.” after that exchange i guess he had to go wash some towels or something.

this was not the only awkward conversation i had of the day….when i got to work this morning, i noticed BO Guy was already there. he usually gets there about 8:00 am with his rolling briefcase. i acknowledged him by saying “hey, you’re here early”. uh oh. then i had to have a 10 minute conversation where i learned when he lived in California, he would wake up at 4 am, start the broiler (not sure what was on the broiler), go run 2 and a quarter miles, then come home, flip the broiler, then take a shower. he would leave his house by 6:30 to get to work by 6:50. the whole time i was going “dude, i didn’t want to get into all of this.” so weird.

with the main project where i work eventually ending, the mother company set up an internal job fair to place people so they wouldn’t have to get laid off. i’m not technically on that project anymore, but i am looking for a new job, so i printed off some resumes and went after work yesterday. i was kind of nervous before, because i wasn’t really sure what i wanted to do or where i wanted to go. the job fair had EVERY unit of the company and every location, which made it about 15 or 20 different sets of people to talk to. i ended up talking to the people closely related to the 3 jobs i’ve already applied to, as well as people involved in the jobs i’d like to do. i’m not really sure straight engineering is my bag anymore, so i’m looking for a change in location and job function. the people last night sounded like they could help me accomplish both. i was very encouraged leaving to go home, because the people sounded legit in their “send me your resume and we’ll get this ball rolling” thing. it’s not something i have not heard before, but last night they sounded like they meant it. one guy was even ready to give me his cell phone number if he had any questions, but i declined. work numbers are fine with me unless you’re the CEO of the company. i’m going to email my resume off to the people i met last night today and we’ll see what happens. it sounded like i’ll have options, so i hope they all come through.

speaking of my resume, i was a little self conscious about it because it’s been the same basic format for years. i have my jobs listed then bullet points listing highlights. i saw one guy’s resume on one of the tables while i was talking to someone and it had his name and address at the top, then his job listing was like one big long paragraph! seeing that made me feel a little better about my resume.

i got home about 7:40 and decided not to go to small group that started at 7:30. instead, i kept on my pace towards the half marathon and ran 4 miles. it’s been getting cooler here, so running last night was fantastic. i even felt good after the first mile….(it’s always the hardest i think). i have to run 6 miles on Saturday which i’m not looking forward to, but i’m going to try.

so i got home tonight and went running along my usual route. of course i took the trusty nano along, using the nike+, but i failed to click on the playlist with my running songs. i ended up shuffling ALL of the songs on the iPod. my luck continued as the songs shuffled into my ears were slow songs. initially i thought it would suck, but it got me thinking about my pace. i kept a much more even pace tonight than i have the past two weeks, and actually had a better time. maybe running to A Fine Frenzy and slower Ryan Adams isn’t such a big deal after all. i don’t plan on trying it next time, but i guess if i notice a difference, i’ll go with the slower songs again.

when i went to upload my run, i started a training program for a half marathon. according to the schedule, i should be able to run it by Christmas. i guess we’ll see about that.

work was okay today i guess. i was having a conversation with a couple of co-workers at my desk when BO guy randomly rolled his chair over to offer us some walnuts he had in a big ziploc bag. just another day at the office!

today there was no carpool, so it was just me in the car on the way to work. i FINALLY broke out my FM transmitter for my Nano to use in the car. i’ve been struggling with the radio lately, even the classic rock radio, because it seems they play the same 50 or so songs. (a lot of AC/DC for some reason). yesterday i uploaded a lot of songs to my iPod and almost filled it, so i have about 600 songs. anyway, on the way to work this morning, i had the songs on shuffle and Yellow came on. in the serene morning on the bridge, it felt like the perfect song for that moment. i remembered the show i went to in Houston hearing Yellow and how everyone collectively smiled, how Yellow was the first Coldplay song i had ever heard, how at that concert i felt a part of something bigger than just me, blah blah blah.

(why oh why was Viva La Vida so bad?!? i really wanted to like it!)

after this past weekend’s college football games i don’t know what to believe anymore. i remember back in my Catechism days, we had a retreat and we played this game called Backpack Mess Up. it was something where everyone would be categorized as something normally found in a backpack. then the person leading the game would call out items and those people would have to move around. then if the person said backpack mess up, everyone had to move around. come to think of it the game wasn’t that much fun, and it doesn’t really make any sense as i described it. so this weekend in college football felt like backpack mess up. four top 10 teams lost, including UF on a blocked XP (wtf?). Clemson blew an easily winnable game that defies logic. everything i thought i knew was turned upside down. except LSU won, and that was the one thing all weekend that made sense.

the Saints game on Sunday made me feel great. it felt like 2006 again. hopefully it’s a sign of things to come for the season and not an aberration. welcome back Deuce!

so a couple of weeks ago when i packed up to go to ATL and then possibly evacuate for Gustav, i packed up among other things my checkbook. until today, it was MIA and i had no idea where it was. i looked in several places where i thought it would be to no avail. i knew i only had one check left in the book, but i couldn’t even find my replacement checks. the lost checkbook was looking like it was going to be a problem when my fridge broke, but the crisis was avoided when i ended up FIXING IT MYSELF and buying the replacement part with my check card. i had looked into ordering new checks, but getting two books of checks canceled just seemed silly to me since i knew if i kept looking i’d find my lost checks. today i went to work unpacking stuff i had packed and doing a lot of laundry. found in a Target bag with a travel bottle of Listerine and a travel bottle of shampoo was my checkbook and extra checks. i felt very relieved, esp since my electric bill was due tomorrow and i was going to have to write a check. it’s the only check i write, mostly because to pay that online i have to sign up for another website not related to my power company, which i don’t want to do. (i know, i’m weird like that)

another high today was the Ryder Cup. The US pulled off the huge upset! so maybe it wasn’t as big an upset as the 1980 US hockey team, or Giants over the Patriots, but it was close! all of the players were making great shots all 3 days, and especially today. it was fantastic to watch. the only downside of watching pretty much all three days of coverage was the NBC commentators. today while the Americans put together an amazing Singles round, Johnny Miller made every effort to say how the Europeans would be able to make a comeback to win (the US had entered the day up 2 points). despite his condescending tone throughout the past two days, i enjoyed watching the tournament for the sights and sounds [HD was gorgeous!]. the crowd and players were so amped with the chanting and the flag waving. it was amazing to watch. i can’t imagine having that much pressure on almost every shot. i’ve played in tournaments before, and had pressure putts, but to have so much riding on it…..your team, your country? crazy.

and now the low….i watched the Saints/Broncos game today. it was a wild game with each team making plays. i caught the very end of the 1st half, where the Saints could not get a TD from inside the 5 yard line and turned it over on downs. why there was no play action i will not know. they got a safety on the next Broncos play, but still, they could have had a touchdown. anyway, fast forward to the end of the game…..Broncos lead 34-32 but the Saints have the ball in FG range. the Saints, instead of staying with the offense that got them there [Drew Brees had over 400 yards passing], they played for the FG. they ran the ball and ultimately it came down to a 3rd and 1. they had the same situation last week against the Redskins and did not make it. so today, with a chance to redeem themselves, they run THE SAME PLAY THAT GOT STUFFED LAST WEEK. no problem right, they can still kick the FG right….WRONG! the kicker missed the FG and the Broncos took over and the Saints never were able to threaten again. there was no excuse for them to lose today, it was ridiculous and very frustrating. however, considering the other results for the sporting events i watched this weekend turned out in my favor (like LSU!), i can stomach a Saints loss, although i surely did not want to lose like that.