Another day, and another funny story from my life.

Today, I'm on a sales effort conference call with partners (the most senior people in my company). One partner gives me the dial in number and asks me to send out an invite. I paste the exact number he sent me into the invite, and send it out to everyone. Well, little did I know….

888-###-###3 The new official conference call number for my company
888-###-###2 Number where you can speak to live women about your "adult desires"

A nice way for me to be remembered by all those on the call… Once it was straightened out, one partner was giving the first guy a hard time asking why he didn't give everyone his passcode for the first number we dialed.

Watch those digits, folks...

A short story about my car -

I went in for an oil change to a local place we got a mailing from since we just moved to Columbus. They recommended I needed a new oil pan for $650 because my oil could leak b/c the oil plug whole is stripped. I call around and find the same oil pan at the dealership (normally the most expensive place for parts) was half of what this mechanic wanted to charge me for the part alone. I, of course, want to take my car somewhere else...

I go to pick up my car, and when they go to bring my car around it won't start. They have left the lights (or done something) in my car and killed the battery. Not only was the battery dead, but they somehow triggered the security system as if the car was stolen. So I spend an hour last night in the shop with my car alarm going off. The car can't even be started in "security mode", and the "Toyota certified diagnostic" guy can't find an answer online or by calling Toyota. They have four guys trying various solutions.

I tried looking for a solution myself online last night, but couldn't find anything so this morning I bring in the big guns. Chrissy comes in dressed for her work with all the greasy mechanics and goes into the garage to try a few things with the car. The mechanics roll their eyes as she asks for them to jump the car, because we have tried all of this yesterday and know the alarm will go off until the battery is dead again. She eventually gets the right person on the line at Toyota, and successfully deactivates the system. The head mechanic offers her a job on the spot.

I'm now taking the car for a second opinion to find out if the oil pan story was made up, because I do NOT trust those mechanics.

In short - it is good to be married to a Tech engineer. :-)

Yesterday was a fun filled day. Carter and Kent came down. They unfortunately didn't get here until 6, so we didn't have time to do much before going to the Catfish game. The game itself was a little boring with the Catfish losing, but the environment was fun.

It was military appreciation night, so we were in the 5-10% that were not military. And all the military were in fatigues, so we really stood out. Chrissy was in the definite minority. Speaking of which, I was quite surprised that military was probably 90% white, while I would have expected something closer to the general population. It is pretty amazing to think of all these guys serving their country. They were so much more disciplined that other guys their age, being very polite and having guys assigned to clean up their trash after them. I bet that discipline will take them further in life than they would have gone otherwise.

We finished the night (and started the early morning) with the Country's Midnight Express. I have only run one 5K, but I beat my best time by just over two minutes! I was hoping to be under 24 minutes and beat Chrissy, but I beat her and finished under 23 minutes! I ran my first mile in 7:01 which was the fastest I can ever remember running a mile, even by itself. I was quite pleased. Chrissy did great. She would have won her age group if she had been one age group up or down. She still took home some hardware. Sadly, I was nowhere near the top times, even for the old guys. It was still a personal victory.

Happy Birthday, Kent!

Kent and Carter are coming down to Columbus tomorrow to go to a Columbus Catfish game which is the minor league team associated with the LA Dodgers. We haven't had any company down to Columbus, so that is fun. Chrissy and I were wanting to go see the Catfish anyways. Then tomorrow is also the midnight 5K. My goal is to beat Chrissy, and hopefully 24 minutes. Not sure if I can do that, but we shall see.

One of my friends (no, you probably don't know him) sent me an email with just this attachment with a :-( face.

He and I both thought it was really funny, because we always joke about his lack of luck with the ladies (despite being a great guy). He said this is eHarmony's way of saying, "Get off our site, loser, you are bringing down our stats."

Played a new board game last night, Power Grid, which was a lot of fun. Mike L and his Sunday night game nights have opened up a whole new world of games to me which are really interesting. In Power Grid you are a Power Plant owner, and have to buy plants, and choose the cities you want to connect to offer power service. You can buy plants that run on coal, oil, trash, nuclear, or "green" plants. Alexa led all the game, but I passed her on the last turn. Good fun.

Kent even came out and got to experience "Mall of Horror", which is funny, and can be fun. I just never feel satisfied playing that game, even when I win.

Part of what I enjoy about game night is just getting to spend time with friends. There are a few old friends who come out occasionally and they are good to see. I am looking forward when we move to Atlanta and can see people more regularly. Columbus isn't bad, but not being convienantly close to friends and family isn't as fun.

I registered for the Country's Midnight Express (see the link on the left of the page). It's a 5K run at midnight, and should be fun. Apparently some 4000 people show up for it. Chrissy and I have been training, so hopefully we get a good time. My best time is something like 24:42 or so. I'd like to beat my best time in a minute, but having been timing myself to know if that is reasonable. Worst case, you get a BBQ sandwich and a t-shirt. :-)

Annoyance of the day: Why do radio stations have to give the traffic (and weather) so frequently?

In all my years driving in Atlanta, I can think of maybe two times when I altered my route due to traffic reports. I change the radio station most of the time when traffic comes on... Although sometimes I feel a little Schadenfreude when I hear about bad traffic in Atlanta and I'm not coming anywhere near it. Maybe Schadenfreude isn't quite right - I'm not happy that others are experiencing it, just glad that I am not.

Happy Birthday, Carter! It's easy to remember his birthday because it is the same week as Chrissy and my wedding anniversary. 3 years have gone by quick, and we had a great dinner overlooking the Chattahoochee to celebrate.

I had a work dinner at 103 West tonight, and Chrissy came with me. Two nice meals in one week. We like to try out the Buckhead Life eateries. There is so much turnover in consulting, and so much hiring of new people I felt like I didn't know that many people at the dinner. New people have been hired and bonded. Between Athens and Columbus, I am just not in the office very much. But it was good catching up with a few folks, and even Chrissy had a good time.

Bon nuit!

Happy Birthday, Carter! It's easy to remember his birthday because it is the same week as Chrissy and my wedding anniversary. 3 years have gone by quick, and we had a great dinner overlooking the Chattahoochee to celebrate.

I had a work dinner at 103 West tonight, and Chrissy came with me. Two nice meals in one week. We like to try out the Buckhead Life eateries. There is so much turnover in consulting, and so much hiring of new people I felt like I didn't know that many people at the dinner. New people have been hired and bonded. Between Athens and Columbus, I am just not in the office very much. But it was good catching up with a few folks, and even Chrissy had a good time.

Bon nuit!

Happy Birthday, Carter! It's easy to remember his birthday because it is the same week as Chrissy and my wedding anniversary. 3 years have gone by quick, and we had a great dinner overlooking the Chattahoochee to celebrate.

I had a work dinner at 103 West tonight, and Chrissy came with me. Two nice meals in one week. We like to try out the Buckhead Life eateries. There is so much turnover in consulting, and so much hiring of new people I felt like I didn't know that many people at the dinner. New people have been hired and bonded. Between Athens and Columbus, I am just not in the office very much. But it was good catching up with a few folks, and even Chrissy had a good time.

Bon nuit!

I feel no shame / I'm proud of where I came from / I was born and raised in the boondocks...
Going out to the lake in the middle of the country is so relaxing. It feels like home. We had jet skis, and would sit around and play cards. Chrissy and I both slalomed which was fun - it had been a while. I think I want to get a house on the lake someday. We're going to another lake house party tomorrow at Lake Lanier which should be a lot of fun.

80 work emails since I left, and I catch up on the news. It doesn't seem like anything really big has happened.

I did start and finish the book "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury. It was strange, but also good. I didn't have expectations, but I was still surprised. It seemed like a series of short stories that were loosely related, and occasionally would have the same characters. It was short enough that I would recommend it.

Trivia was just ok last night. We had a bigger group - both Carter and Ray joined the foursome that tied for first last week. The questions weren't as good though. It seemed all the questions fell in three categories: Obvious, no clue, or you don't know but most idiots would guess this answer first. So all the scores were really close together since most everyone got the same ones right, which doesn't make it as fun. It was good catching up. (Good call on last week's question, Sarah!)

I'm off to Lake Sinclair for three days. Should be fun...