There's Pie in the Lunchroom

Beginnings

Chuck — Tue, 27 May 2003 06:58:40 +0000

Here we go…

Greetings from Salt Lake City

Chuck — Tue, 27 May 2003 17:50:07 +0000

In Salt Lake City for work, converting 9 radio stations from their old traffic & billing software over to my company’s T&B software. I’ve been here since last Monday, the 19th, and I’ll be here ’til Friday morning.

Well, that’s not true; I did get to go home over the weekend. Normally I’d stay over the weekend (which would make for 12 days on the road; a long time away from home), but this was a 3-day weekend so I figured I’d fly home on my own dime on Southwest, which I did. I’m glad I did it. We had a nice family-style weekend, pretty low-key, no arguing, just spending time together. Nice. I didn’t go out riding with the motorcycle guys, either, I just stayed home for the QT (Quality Time). Nice.

I did get out to play poker Saturday night, though. Had a good night, too. Played $6/$12 Hold ‘em for the first time, cashed out +$300. I usually play $3/$6 and pretty consistently cash out +$100, but I was really nervous about trying my hand at 6/12. I’ve tried 4/8 a few times and keep getting crushed there — I have some kind of mental block there or something; I just can’t play my game. 6/12 was a big jump by comparison, so I’m glad I got out of it alive. I’ll have to try it again to see if my survival was a fluke.

Other activities for the weekend: dinner with Mom, buying a new digical camcorder for Beth, Zoe got to play with her brand new Slip n Slide. Nice.

WWdN

Chuck — Wed, 28 May 2003 00:44:07 +0000

Apropos of nothing, I thought I’d point you to where I’ve made Wil Wheaton’s gallery by modeling the very stylish WWdN “Obey” T-shirt astride my manly motorsickle. Grrr.

Who’s Wil Wheaton? What’s dN? I’ll let him tell you himself — check it out. Good reading.

57 Channels…

Chuck — Wed, 28 May 2003 06:41:47 +0000

It’s 1:00 am local time (Salt Lake City) and I’m about done with this whole hotel/travel thing tonight. I’ve been monkeying around with this design here for the last few hours with the TV on in the background and I’m here to tell you that the SLC Hilton’s viewing selections are piss-poor. Sure, there are 18 channels to choose from, but don’t let that fool you, don’t think you could find something to watch.

Four of them are hotel channels: one is advertising their Therapeutic Massage service, one is the “menu” screen where they’re flogging the pay-per-view, one is “HTL.INFO,” which has been showing the same picture of an empty conference room for eight days now, and one is repeating the same three promos of the pay-per-view movies the “menu” screen is flogging. Two channels are PBS feeds — the local one has a distinctly … Mormon focus, and most of the rest seem to be CNN CNBC MSNBC or FOX carrying the same three Laci Petersen-obsessed talking heads. They kind of all blend into the same blaring noise with the ever shrill Nancy Grace taking the lead.

Of course, there’s always HBO, but HBO hasn’t been much help tonight. Earlier we had My House in Umbria, followed by Life Or Something Like It, and now we’ve got Baby Boy going on. Stellar viewing, let me tell you. The sad thing about all this is that it beats the hell out of the hotel I used to stay at in Dallas when I was working there every two weeks. At least this one has HBO. With My House in Umbria. It’s an improvement…

Feh. I’m going to bed.

I said what?

Chuck — Wed, 28 May 2003 18:41:32 +0000

Talking to one of the staff here at the radio station about something that wasn’t working the way she wanted it to, I told her: “There are no problems, there are only opportunities for solutions.”

I have no idea how those words came out of my mouth. Clearly, I must be channeling someone who gives a fuck.

Radio gah-gah

Chuck — Wed, 28 May 2003 21:48:52 +0000

Every market I go to usually has one of their stations playing over the PA system throughout the day, usually their classic rock station. That works for me, I like the old dinosaur rock. But do they all have to play .38 Special’s “Hold On Loosely”?

Two Cute

Chuck — Thu, 29 May 2003 01:07:47 +0000

Is my kid cute or what? (She’s the one making the lesser of two goofy faces.)
View image

Cute Redux

Chuck — Thu, 29 May 2003 04:43:52 +0000

Beth’s giving the new digital camcorder a workout. Here’s Zoe on her way to a school recital this afternoon:

And here she is fresh from the shower just before bed a few hours ago:

Traveling sucks sometimes.

Tick-tock

Chuck — Thu, 29 May 2003 22:08:10 +0000

43 minutes until I’m finished with the SLC market conversion.

Not that I’m counting.

Tick-Tock redux

Chuck — Thu, 29 May 2003 22:13:20 +0000

Huh. I posted that last entry at 3:47 PST but the timestamp on it is 3:08. There’s a 39 minute discrepancy between real life and my server.

Not that I’m counting.