Well, that's a surprise.

You'll never guess what happened last Thursday. I was at work for no more than half a day when the managing partner of the firm entered my office, told me that it wasn't working out and let me go. Although it surprised me, I calmly cleaned up my office and left. It took me a while to post it because I am embarassed by it and didn't know what I would say.

The letter he gave me regarding my situation clearly outlined why I was let go. It was primarily for my internet use and for failing to calendar deadlines. He also mentioned that he thought I was talking to the receptionist too much and that it would affect her work. Now I've been fortunate enough to work at jobs that allow me some leeway regarding my internet use. At this latest job, he told to me to keep it to a bare minimum unless it was work related. I admit I had trouble adjusting and got caught way too much with general surfing, email reading and blogger updating. I thought I was still getting a majority of my work done, but evidently he thought I was wasting too much time surfing and should have been able to get more work done.

I defended my failure to calendar deadlines though. In many of the cases that he cited, I had never received the document in the first place so I was unable to calendar them.

Anyhow, I felt/feel just awful about the whole thing (because of what they went through to retain me), so I wrote him an apology email as soon as I got home on Thursday. I owed up to what I thought he was right on and defended other positions. Overall though, the situation just wasn't right.

So now I'm between jobs again and am worried. I really hope I can find something soon. My feelers are out there with some headhunters and my attorney friends, and I've applied for 5-6 jobs today already, but with the job market still depressed, it may not be as quickly as I would like.

If you guys have any advice or possible leads, feel free to let me know. Take care. I guess now I have more time to update my blog.

Lazy...

Okay, I apologize, I've been slacking on the FL trip stories. Sorry about that, but it is a combination of laziness and being busy. I've also noticed that my entries are kinda long so I'm trying to figure out how to cut the fat. May not be possible.

Anyhow, quick update as to my life. Wen was in town this weekend with the new wife (Grace). It was good to see him. He'll be back on April 12 for the wedding on the 16th. This was just a trip to get some things finalized.

Unfortunately Jen and I weren't able to get together last week. She was busy with CSAP at school and had forgot that she made other plans last Friday. So I wasn't able to take her to the Nuggets game like I wanted to. Besides we played phone tag the entire week. Hopefully we'll get a chance to actually talk this week and make plans for this weekend. Stay tuned...

Everything else is good. There is a change coming into my life soon. I won't be talking about it until it's definite, but I am looking foward to it.

Who else's bracket got smashed this weekend? I should have a small bonfire for mine. Not like it's different any other year.

Shhh... Be cool, be cool... Scatter!

The title is essentially our tags lines from the trip. Yup, I'm back and basically no worse for wear. I am tired and barely made it into work this morning and I'm sure I killed more than a few brain cells, but I had a GREAT time on the trip and am looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble can be had at Tracy and Abbey's wedding in June ;).

A quick tangent; Jen and I had a very nice time at Il Fornaio last Thursday and I am taking her to a Nuggets game this Friday. I think it's progressing nicely, but hopefully things will make a bit of a jump after Friday. I like her, but am still having trouble gauging her feelings at this point.

On to Sox spring training/Keeney's last blast '05.

I'd like to start off by thanking Shiff, Josh, Coulter and others who helped to put this together by buying game tickets, hotel rooms, etc. Even with the few minor hang-ups (which weren't your fault anyway), everything turned out fine in the end and there are many memories to be had. You guys did a great job sending Tracy off in style.

Since it was a jam packed 3+ days and will make my blogs longer than what is probably appropriate, I will spread out the diary over a period of time. For you readers who were on the trip, feel free to add any details that I may have forgotten or just add links to your own blogs.

Go Big or Go Home

Josh called and emailed me on Thursday afternoon telling me that it had been decided that we would start big on this trip. Each of us (me, Josh, Burrus, and Nate) were to buy 4 shooters to consume before the end of the flight into Tampa. Knowing that I couldn't take shots like I used to and thinking we couldn't mix, I bought a decent selection; Ketel One Citron, Jagermeister, Wild Turkey, and Bacardi. Josh ended up buying 4 more (for a total of 20 shooters) because in an email I sent to him on Thursday, he thought I accused us of being wimps for only having 4 each. In fact, I was just wondering if we were to shoot them before the flight began or during the duration of the flight itself. Prior to the flight didn't sound appealing, especially since I didn't think we could mix them. When I found out that mixing was going to be allowed, we all bought a large coke from the airport McDonalds in preparation.

Distribution was decided by the roll of a die that Burrus found in the shuttle parking lot. We lined up six bottles and what ever number you got was your shooter. I ended up getting Bacardi O, Bacardi, Jagermeister, Ketel One Citron, and a disgusting Rum/Tequila concotion called Kuya. Josh and I started off by shooting the Jager which went down okay. I then mixed the Bacardis and the Kuya into my coke and sipped it while waiting to board. It wasn't too bad and I had the Bacardis to overrule most of the taste of the Kuya. Nate discovered that coke and watermelon vodka was a decent combination. I saved the Ketel One for later in the flight.

When Josh made the reservations a couple months ago, he requested seating that would keep us together. But due to a change in computer programs by Frontier we were scattered throughout the plane. Josh was able to get him and me to sit next to each other, but we were in the last row, meaning we could not lean the chairs back. Fortunately I think we were inebriated enough not to really care. I was able to finish off my coke before we took off, so at that point I had about 4 drinks in an hour/hour and a half.

It was probably one of the fastest 4-hour flights that I've had in a long time probably due to the fact that I had a little to drink. Josh and I spent most of the flight watching DirecTV, mocking the old 80's music videos on VH1 classic and talking about religion and such. We were probably kind of obnoxious, but we had a good time. We were also lucky enough to be attended to by an attractive mid to late 30s flight attendant. When the pilot turned on the fasten seat belt sign because of expected "jiggling", she turned and said that she hoped that he didn't mean the flight attendants. The rest of the crew was great also. When Josh showed another flight attendant the shot that he brought aboard, she noticed that it wasn't something they sold and asked him to hide because she didn't want us to get in trouble and her to get fired. We got a turkey wrap during the flight and I'd say more about it, but all that's worth mentioning is that other than a bag o' mix, it's the first time I've had a meal on a flight in a long time. I finished off the Ketel One with some ginger ale an hour or so before landing. Over all it was 5 drinks in a span of 5 hours so things were good.

We met up with Tracy, Shiff, Davis and Anstine at the airport and rented a 7 person minivan to head to the hotel. It took us an hour to rent the van because for some reason everyone was renting from Budget last weekend. There were no lines at Hertz, Avis or Dollar.

It took us another 2 hours or so just to get to the hotel because of some accident on 19. It should have taken us half an hour at most. We spent the time listening to music and rocking the van back and forth (while stopped in traffic), much to the entertainment of other drivers. The line from the drive came from Davis. While an older gentleman was chatting with us about the traffic, we noticed that he had a Garfield air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror. Davis tactfully and not so quietly said, "Garfield sucks, dude". The other driver never spoke to us again.

Since we had been in traffic for so long, Davis was in dire bathroom straits. He braved 3 lanes of on-coming traffic to hit the head at Dunkin Donuts, just to go. We were travelling just slow enough for him to do it. We finally reached our destination and checked in. Since we were hungry and it was a bachelor party, we headed off to get some grub and booze.

After that we spent the rest of the time drinking beer, talking and laughing. Fortunately the room that we were hanging out in had the stairs to one side, was vacant on the other and vacant above. Regardless, whenever someone knocked on the door we'd all become silent, someone would say "be cool" and we would jokingly be ready to scatter. It was like being underage drinkers again. There were two times we thought we were really in trouble; once when Kirk showed up at the door because we didn't expect him to show at our door (he flew in a day earlier than anticipated); and once when Büer (sp?) showed up totally unexpectedly.

Although there were many great stories told at the expense of everyone else, the highlight had to be drunk Budzy. He and Seamus were at the hotel way before anyone else and had spent the afternoon drinking and hanging by the pool. By the time our group got there Budz was doing pretty good. As the evening progressed he had more to drink. At one point he began to brush his teeth and get into his jammies; as such, it was only appropriate that we heckle him. When we asked if he was brushing his teeth he responded with "Well duuuhh!" then pointed his electric Oral-B at us and claimed that he was tougher than us because he started drinking at 2 that afternoon.

When he went to bed to "lie down", Anstine began flipping pennies at him so Budzy grabbed the Bible from the night stand, not only to protect himself, but in search of the passage quoted from Pulp Fiction. Unfortunately for him it wasn't in that version, but Budzy wouldn't know it because he had trouble focusing on the page. Then as he progressively got more and more drowsy the sharpies that Tracy had provided for autographs on our baseballs came out for their secondary purpose. I gotta give Budzy credit; it got to the point that as soon as someone twisted off the cap to the marker he would react and wake up. We were able to get a couple lines on his arm and stomach, but nothing really on his face since he would wake up as soon as you touched him. I think fun was had by all that first night. Part II tomorrow...

Woohoo, she came back!

Well the receptionist returned today. Thank God! It wasn't as bad as I am making it out to be and I must admit that my days flew by; but that could be attributed to being anxious for the FL trip to begin. It was a good experience to have though. I feel more comfortable answering phones now.

I'm taking Jen out to dinner tonight at the Il Fornaio restaurant in Flatirons Crossing. I was introduced to this restaurant when I lived in LA and really like it. I'm looking forward to the date, but am nervous. I'll just be myself and hope for not too many awkward silences.

This will probably be my last post for a few days as the long awaited FL trip starts tomorrow. Stories will be forthcoming either Sunday night or Monday, if my brain still works when I get back.

As promised...

Here is the latest addition to my jersey collection.

Front
&
Back

When I ordered it, MLB.com required that I put a name on the back, but the image on the website didn't have one. So since I had to put one down, I selected "Mojo". Trust me, I'm thankful that they didn't stitch a name on there per the picture on the website.

I selected #13 because it's my lucky number, not because of Doug Mientkiewicz, defensive 1st baseman last year.

Foiled again.

The jersey pick up plan didn't work out as well as I had hoped. The leasing office is supposed to close at 6; so after work I sped home and was able to get there 10 minutes before 6. Unfortunately the lights were off and no one was around. So I gave them a call and asked them to put it in my apartment. Now I'm all for leaving work early, especially on a Friday, but c'mon it was Monday couldn't you just hang around for 15 more minutes? Well I just received a call from them and they are going to put it in my apartment sometime today. Pictures will be posted tonight for those that are interested.

Well this is now day 4 of Jumin the Receptionist (Under Siege) and I think I have a hang of things. The receptionist left a message last night and said that she was just interviewed yesterday and they wanted her back today. She may get picked yet. If she does and it's a long trial, the firm is going to have to find someone else to answer the phones on Thursday and Friday. No way I'm missing out on the FL trip.

Things went pretty well yesterday. It got a little crazy in the afternoon and I had trouble keeping up with the phones, but one of the attorneys was cool and grabbed a couple for me.

Glad to see the Nuggets are on a 7 game win streak. It's amazing that it's been 16 years since they've had one. I was only 13 at the time.

It's too bad about Betsy Hoffman resigning from CU. Its not like I knew her since she became prez after my time there, but with all the controversy surrounding the school I guess it just seemed appropriate. It's surprising that Barnett and Churchill both came to her defense, especially since they're the cause of all her ills. Good luck to her and hopefully she can find a job with a lot less stress.

The saga continues.

Well I'm back at it, the receptionist's number was called and she is on jury duty today. So for a third straight day, I'm playing receptionist; and depending on what kind of case she is assigned to and if she is selected, there could be more to come. Been a quiet morning so far...

In other news. I spent the majority of my weekend getting my computer back up. It was only a pain because Comcast's broadband went wacky some time between Saturday night and Sunday morning. At first I thought it was me because I could still telnet into my private account without problems, but some websites weren't coming up and others were slow loading. But when I called they said that the Denver area was having issues and they were working on it. As of this morning, things seemed to be all right. I'm still shy two major programs for installation though. McAfee Virus Scan (or any virus protection software) and Office XP. I'll probably buy McAfee, but not sure what to do about Office.

On the date front, I asked Jen out to dinner yesterday and we're going out Wednesday night. Steve mentioned that I should take her to a Nuggets or Mammoth game, but unfortunately it was too short of time for me to plan something like that. It's good to know that she's into sports though.

I also looked into LSAT courses and was surprised to discover that they are $1,200. I spoke to my parents and agree that since it's an investment on my future, it is a small price to pay. Unfortunately I don't have the patience or fortitude to study on my own. At least not to get the kind of score I'd like. It'll be good to get some guidance and direction.

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE!!

Yup, the jersey has arrived. Unfortunately I didn't know that they had delievered it to the main office at around noon. I expected them to drop it off at my front door. I went down to see if it was in the office at 5:30pm and it was. Problem is that the office closes at 4pm and is not open tomorrow. Guess I'll just have to wait until Monday to unveil it.

Well I'm spent this beautiful Saturday watching TV and working on my computer and I think I may have to format and completely reinstall my OS (and other programs). Basically, I tried to copy the entire C: drive to my new harddrive in the hopes that that would become my new C:. Although the copy went through with only a few files unable to be copied, and it has essentially made my new drive the C: drive. It relies on my old C: drive to boot up and the old C: can't be set as the "system" drive. Since I didn't study Comp Sci or IT, looks like my only option is to start from scratch. Hopefully someone will be able to help me out. I will still be around, but it looks like it'll be in a limited capacity for a while.

Jumin the Receptionist day 2 (duhn, duhn, DUH...)

Well I don't expect to be writing everyday, but because of my current job status and the fact that I had a date last night, it was warranted.

Yesterday ended up decent. It wasn't too hectic or anything. It was just interesting to sit at the front desk and listen to our potential clients family (spouses, siblings, etc.) talking amongst each other. It's not that our waiting room is always really full, but there were two potential clients yesterday that each brought a family member.

When he speaks to a potential client, the managing partner likes to only speak to the person with the legal issue, sending the family member to the waiting room. The two we had yesterday started chatting and ended up on religion. Apparently they were both very religious and had both been "saved". They were telling each other which family members were saved (interesting how they considered that some were and some weren't) and how they became saved themselves. For someone who is agnostic, it was insightful just to listen in. I'll have to see how today goes.

There is a chance I'll have play receptionist for a 3rd day because the normal receptionist may have jury duty. I'll know by Monday.

So the date went just fine last night. Jen is cute, energetic and fun to be around. It was more of an opportunity to meet her, so there was no deep conversation or anything. I asked for (and got) her number and will try to see if we can get together before I head off to FL next weekend. Stay tuned...

On a sports tanget, what's the deal with a Boston firm buying all the NHL teams for $3.5 billion (yes with a B)? I'm an Avs fan and I like what Stan Kroenke has done with and for the team. I don't know how this will benefit the NHL, but some people think this is the shot in the arm that the sport needs. I'd hate to lose Kroenke as an owner, so hopefully this will fall through. This is supposedly a low ball offer since all the teams total somewhere north of $5 billion. That amount may just get just 25 teams, not including the top 5.

Last thing. Happy 39th birthday to Tone-Loc today! Ahhh, I still remember those awkward, formative years at Burbank dancing to the beats of "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina" not having a clue as to what he was talking about. Oh, and cursing to that one Billy Idol song and feeling like a rebel.

Last, last thing. Apparently Katie Holmes is back on the market; looks like I still got a chance (with about a gazillion other guys).

I Feel for All the Receptionists Out There

Well today is the first day I've played receptionist since college. Our normal receptionist is in North Carolina attending her brother's graduation and since I'm next on the totem pole, for the next 2 or 3 days, I'm it. So far so good, but not exactly what I imagined when I took this job. I'm hoping it'll make my day go by faster. Not that I don't have anything to do, but when I'm constantly looking at the clock, time crawls.

I also have a date tonight that my bud Steve set me up on. He sent me a list of advice for how to handle myself. Seems pretty straight forward and common knowledge, but I'm sure I need to be reminded.

On a sports related note, I received notification today that my Red Sox jersey is on it's way. It should arrive this weekend (I didn't know FedEx Ground delivered on a Sat.). Just in time for my FL trip next weekend, which I am still very excited about. It's going to be INSANE.