Domestic Geek

I'm really hating to have to travel anywhere in the Denver Metro area. Between traffic congestion and road construction, there is no good time to be out on the road. I went to have lunch with Marcus (in exchange for getting his paycheck to put it in the bank before 3pm). I left home around 12:30ish. First, it took 45 minutes just to drive the 18-20 miles away to his workplace. There was a minor accident on I-25. Big whoop. After we got past the accident, would people accelerate up to the speed limit? Oh, hell no! Then, when I got there, they had the street in front of his workplace all torn up and I couldn't even get into his parking lot. After we ate, it took forever to get back to his work because of this jacked up construction that's been going on for over a year at Evans/Broadway. I had three small errands to run on the way back: 1) put his check in the bank; 2) make my car payment; and 3) stop and buy toilet paper. That's all. It took and hour and a half to make my way back across town doing those errands before I finally got home. Grrrr. It's no wonder road range is rampant. I was so frazzled when I got home, it wasn't even funny. What's stupid is, the height of rush hour didn't even used to start until 4pm when I was younger. Now, it doesn't matter. You can have a total traffic snarl at 3 in the morning. It's totally out of control.

If you're working from home and wish you could have a "real" office where you could meet with clients or just get away from your house once in awhile, Offices2Share.com, the folks that operate a free nationwide search engine for short-term, ready-to-use office space, is starting their 2nd Annual "The Home Office From Hell contest" today, 10/23/2006. This is quite the Grand Prize package that they are offering:

• 12 Months Rent in a Real Office at any location posted on Offices2Share.com (Maximum amount $12,000)
• 1 Dell Desktop Computer, 1 Dell Notebook Computer, 1 Dell Switch and Server (Approximate retail value $7,500)
• Tuition For "The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program" at Trump University (Approximate retail value $2,500)
• Trip to NYC and 2 night hotel stay (Maximum amount $2,000)
• Lunch with George Ross, Donald Trump's right-hand man and former Co-Star of The Apprentice, and an autographed copy of his new book "Trump Style Negotiation"

If you're not the lucky grand prize winner, not to worry, they're offering thousands of dollars of additional prizes from Corporate Particpants Dell and Trump University.

What does one have to do to enter? Just compile your top 10 reasons why you need to escape yourhome office from hell. Be as funny, zany or serious as you would like. If words just won't t do it justice, shoot a video of your hellacious work environment. Go fill out their online entry form and you're all set!

If a year of your own out-of-the-house office sounds good to you, hurry and get your entry in...the contest ends on March 31, 2007.

Yesterday I was going though a box of stuff from storage and found some newspaper clippings that my mother had saved. One was from where someone had written into the paper asking if Colorado had an official song. Well, it appears that the state legislature in 1915 adopted a song called "Where the Columbines Grow" as the official state song. There's an mp3 on that site of some elementary school kids singing it. They lyrics are cool, but the melody is totally lame.

I was checking out some of the rest of our official state emblems. Um, we have a state tartan. There is also a state fossil. Who knew? Methinks the legislatures have had too danged much time on their hands.

Yeah, human beings are supposed to be civilized. We have indoor toilets so we don't have to squat on the ground like animals. Why is it that supposedly evolved people CANNOT FLUSH A PUBLIC TOILET?!!!! Do some people just enjoy fouling a public area by leaving their excrement behind? Do they not have the mental ability to push the handle to whisk away the odorous feces? My dad took me to lunch today and I had too much iced tea. I figured I'd better make a quick stop in the ladies room before we left as I would probably not make it back to his apartment. The smell I encountered upon entering was so foul that it triggered my gag reflex, making me lose a good portion of the iced tea and part of the wonderful lunch down the front of my shirt. I found the offending stall and quickly flushed and then had to clean up myself and the bathroom.

I get really annoyed by those "Parents: the anti drug" commercials on tv and radio where parents are battling with whether they should tell their kids not to do drugs because they've done drugs and feel like hypocrites. Just being picky, but they would only be hypocrites if they were still doing drugs and were telling their kids not to do them. A hypocrite tells you not to eat poorly while he's stuffing his face with a greasy burger and a diet coke. A hypocrite tells you that you shouldn't smoke because smoking will kill you and then lights up. A parent being a parent and looking out for the wellfare of his children even though he's made some foolish choices in the past is not a hypocrite.