Smart Ox

Yikes.

2009-01-24T22:20:00.005-07:00

Well the "parallels" turned into "para-hells", as our efforts to make up and move forward never materialized. In fact, I feel in some ways it ended up worse.

Take last Wednesday night, for example.

I came home from work, she was there sitting at the table with Isaiah. He was chattering about some new invention he was sure would work, while she was typing on her computer. I came in and kissed them both and asked if they were hungry. She said "yes", he said "no". I suggested I would wait half an hour before I started cooking, to which they both agreed.

I was making my falafel pitas with rice pilaf, hummus, and cucumber sauce. I had specifically bought leaf lettuce and extra tomatoes for her because the last time she bitched about me not having them. It was a good idea.

Earlier in the day, she had made sure to mention to me twice that she was overdrawn on her bank account. Not that this is my responsibility, mind you-- she is an adult and still lives in Arizona apart from us. We're just trying to see if we can get along, not if I can be superman and save her from all of life's little ills (and go bankrupt in the process). As I'm standing there cooking dinner and she mentions it again, I ask her to write down for me on paper the numbers so I can look at it later and see if I can budget it in to help her out.

"Would you go get a bottle of wine" she says.

"I'm cooking right now".

"I'll finish cooking, you go get some wine".

"Well, I'm not buying wine right now-- plus, you just said you needed help with your bank situation, so the $20 should go toward that."

She asked me several more times, getting angrier with each asking. I explained to her that I have financial goals in place, I've already done the shopping for the week, and it doesn't make sense to spend good money on wine while she is so broke that she has to ask for help... besides, we don't need wine to have a good time.

She got all mad and called me a "jerk" and said that she wasn't going to write down those numbers because she isn't good at that (she's 39), and that she is having a panic attack and needs the wine. She's begging now and saying that she will get some wine one way or another, whether it's with me or someone else. I suggest she go out for a walk, or go to the other room and read a book, or lie down... just do something to calm down and relax. She said she would go do yoga, but I would have to give her $30 to do that (crazy).

At this point I'm getting upset and I tell her to either put a lid on it or get out. I was letting her borrow one of my cars. Then she tells me that she has no money for gas, so that if the car runs out then she is going to leave it where it is on the side of the road and I would have to come find it. So I tell her she isn't taking my car, and I stand firm about it. I had to threaten her with reporting it stolen if she takes it.

She is boiling mad. Calling names.

My son is there, and he is begging her to stop it and she is just getting worse. I feel sorry for him. She says I need to take her to Golden or she won't leave. He and I eat dinner (she won't eat) and we get in the truck to take her over there... it's about a thirty-minute trip. She sat in the back seat with our son and he was trying to get her to watch a Scooby Doo movie with him on his little DVD player, but every few minutes she would say something nasty to me again.

Finally we got her there and let her out. On the way back, I told him that I would watch a Scooby Doo with him when we got home, but he said "No, I'm going to sit here and watch it quietly on the way back, and in some ways it will feel like my Mommy is here and just being nice".

Bitch.

-Ox.

Parallels

2008-11-28T12:24:00.005-07:00

Thanksgiving week. This is where it all began in 1999, where it all changed in 2000, and where it all has started anew here in 2008.

Back in November, 1999 I sighed a deep breath and let go the butterflies as I packed up and moved north permanently from Phoenix to be with a girl I had met just one month earlier in Denver on a business trip. I considered abandoning these plans several times, but for the first time in my life I decided to buck up, to not be afraid of fate, and stick with my promises.

We didn't last long, but long enough for her to become pregnant. November 2000 and he was born, forever to change my life for the better. It wasn't easy, though. His mom and I fought like cats and dogs, battled in and out of court, until finally I "won" (everybody loses in these messes when children are involved) and she moved out-of-state to Phoenix of all places.

November 2008 brings up back around full-circle. I made the offer for her to come back and try us again. Nine years older, nine years more mature, and nine years wiser-- hopefully on both sides. So she is here for a few days and spending the nights with me. So far, so good and the boy couldn't be happier. You can just tell by the little extra spring in his step, the twinkle in his eyes.

I'm hopeful that we can get over ourselves this time and have it work. I guess we'll see.

Happy Thanksgiving.

-Ox.

Pure-Rest Organics -- yikes.

2008-11-15T18:21:00.008-07:00

So a saga that's been ongoing since June (June!) has now come to a close.

This aforementioned saga involves a mattress purchase from a company called Pure-Rest Organics ( http://www.purerest.com ), a manufacturer and seller of organic mattresses.

Why an organic mattress in the first place, you might ask. My son is almost eight years old now, and has been sleeping on an el cheap-o Wal-Mart mattress since he was born. I had no idea how toxic these things were with all the fire retardants and other chemicals they are sprayed down with. As I read more and more about these products (conventional mattresses), the more I feel guilty of not ever having known about organic mattresses sooner. Not that anything's wrong with him, but guilty, guilty, guilty.

So I set out to buy him an organic mattress. And one for me, too.

In June I called Pure-Rest for price quotes. Their mattresses are hella expensive. Hella. Way hella. Some are like $5000 and I am not kidding. As I started looking around, I would see other companies with cheaper organic mattresses but in my research I would find discrepancies like certain chemicals they contained that in my mind disqualified them from the "organic" name altogether. I wanted the purest organic mattresses that money could buy. I wanted Pure-Rest.

Ultimately, I found another company called Simply Organic Sleep ( http://www.simplyorganicsleep.com ) that offered very similar products for much cheaper. Same latex rubber manufacturer in Sri Lanka (Latex Green), similar mattress descriptions, etc. In further research, I found that this particular company had previously done business under other names and also that they had numerous complaints with the Better Business Bureau. This scared me a little. I would flip back and forth between their website and that of Pure-Rest.

And then I saw a little link: "We do price matching" or somesuch.

Yes! So I called Pure-Rest and after a couple of weeks waiting for call-backs was eventually put in touch with a woman named Dottie, who is the owner's mother. Dottie didn't seem too keen on price-matching though. It was like pulling teeth to get her to match the price of what Simply Organic Sleep was offering, but finally she did and the discounts were significant. I also talked her into e-mailing me the quote.

We agreed that I would purchase my son's mattress first and then if I was satisfied with the process and the quality, I would call back and order my mattress at the price quoted.

My son's mattress took forever to come, weeks and weeks and weeks. I kept calling to check on status and kept getting the runaround that Pure-Rest was moving their warehouse from Nebraska or some shit to California, and that was causing an "unexpected" delay. Finally his arrived, and it was fine. Probably the most expensive mattress for a child his age ever, but fine. Fine. Not wonderful, but fine. Fine.

Against my better judgement, I decided to call back and order my mattress now. I was three weeks before I finally got hold of Dottie again. She gave me a runaround about how rubber prices have gone up "70%" since the original quote. She wanted to go through the whole price matching process again, and I was getting pissed. She told me she would have to call me back and didn't. I would call back and ask for her, and they would say Dottie was busy. Some new girl there wanted to help me and wanted to take my order, but she couldn't answer any of my technical questions about the mattress and was getting frustrated and finally indicated that she would have Ginny, the owner, to give me a call.

Ginny called me to discuss. She was nice. This was in contrast with Dottie, who reminded me of a car salesman. I didn't fully trust Ginny though either after she proceeded to give me a price quote that was $1000 more than Dottie had given me. I brought this up and she lowered the price by another $500 and told me it was their best deal ever. I again pointed out that this was $500 more than I was quoted and sent her a copy of the e-mails from Dottie. I'm not sure why I had to do this, because the previous customer service person had my price quote right on her screen.

While she waited for my e-mails, Ginny and I chatted a bit. She discussed a divorce she was going through, and the move of their warehouse, and the rising costs of rubber, and the fly-by-night companies in the organic mattress industry that are buying up inventory on credit and then going out of business and leaving the manufacturers with the bill.

When she got my e-mails, I could tell she didn't know what to say about the price. I had a feeling she was going to stop cold on the price quote she had already given, so I asked her would she just split the difference with me between what she had quoted and what her mom had quoted. This meant I would pay $250 more than I had originally planned, but I wanted the mattress and it was a good discount they were giving me, and probably a part of me felt sorry for her and didn't want to be a dick about it.

She agreed, and said they would have my mattress to me that next week.

Next week came, and no mattress. Then another. Then another. I called back several times to get status and was given all kinds of excuses why they hadn't sent it yet. Finally it did arrive about a week ago. Today is the middle of November.

It was supposed to be assembled when it arrived, but it wasn't. I had specifically talked with Ginny about this. This mattress, too, is just fine. Not amazingly wonderful as I had always pictured in my mind. Not amazingly comfortable. Just fine.

Today I look at Pure-Rest's website and there is the following information message (below) on their front page, so now I wonder if what we got was even organic at all or instead one of these ones that were sprayed down with fire retardants. My advice is to just stay away from this company altogether.

-Ox.

From http://www.purerest.com November 15, 2008:

NOTE FRAUD WATCH: There are a couple of fraudulent companies out there. There are a few that are a bit less pure but 2 that we have found that are absolutely lying about the purity of their mattresses.

The first is THE NATURAL BED STORE. We had carried their mattresses and we have emails where they admitted (after a customer complained) that they had mistakenly sent one with chemically treated FR fabric in it. Then when they were to replace it, they did so with another one with chemicals. They sent emails admitting this to me so I have proof. They sent 4 to us with chemicals, and 5 to my customers. So we now have all these chemical mattresses (we did take returns ourselves as we always protect the consumer) and THE NATURAL BED STORE refused to pay us for them and take them back. We will not sell any mattress with chemicals, and it is so wrong to deceive people trying to get healthy by being a dishonest manufacturer.

The other is Live for Tomorrow. I do believe they have filed bankruptcy yet again and may pop up under another name. They were Pure Slumber and have stolen from each major organic mattress manufacturer out there. Just be careful. Make sure you get test results on materials from the mattress company if you want total purity. If you are concerned about whether the company is legitimate, just make sure they themselves and the manufacturer of the mattresses have been in business for at least 5 years.

There are quite a few natural mattress manufacturers that are honest, look for them. We have proven ourselves with our extensive testing of ALL our raw materials. This guarantees purity. Any questions, just call us.

Xbox 360 Repair Sucks Ass.

2008-10-01T22:15:00.007-06:00

My beloved Xbox 360 died this week.

It froze up while listening to a music CD, with funky graphics artifacts all over the screen. I figured, oh a reboot will fix it.

So I rebooted.

Next it froze up again while playing Blue Dragon early one morning. Same symptoms. Then I tried playing another music CD later that evening... froze again. Then it would freeze sometimes while booting.

Today my son was stoked to watch a copy of Goosebumps we bought last night at Target. Halloween is on it's way.

Froze up.

I called Xbox repair and, unlike the last time I called them several months ago, a foreigner girl answered the line. She proceeded to ask me all my personal info. I casually asked "Where are you?" to which she replied "I cannot tell you that, Microsoft won't allow us to disclose that information". So, umm, how do I know this girl isn't in China and going to sell all my personal info when we get off the phone.

She thought it was funny the whole thing, you could tell.

"Sorry, I can't give you that information" I told her. It seemed we were at an impasse, so I asked to speak with a manager there. At first she tried to deflect my request, but then she relented and another foreigner by the name of "Drew" came on the line. He said he was a supervisor.

Drew gave the same hat and dance routine, that he wasn't allowed to tell what country he is in. He tried to convince me to proceed with giving my personal ID type stuff by saying what does it matter which country he is in, they are all Microsoft employees any way.

I disagreed.

He kept insisting he was a Microsoft employee until I told him I was recording the conversation to send into Microsoft along with my complaint. Then his story changed and he started using phraseology such as "We are under Microsoft's policy" and "We are part of Microsoft's Xbox support team". I pointed out that I bet Microsoft isn't on his paycheck, and he admitted he wasn't a Microsoft employee.

So we said our goodbyes.

He refused to have an American person call me back. He refused to tell me what country he was operating out of. He threw his hands up in the air over everything. Every other word was "can't". I hate that word. Usually it is misused in place of "won't".

So I go to the Xbox website and enter an e-mail complaint. I received a reply from someone ostensibly named Melissa. I say ostensibly because it's very possible she was in the Phillippines or wherever too, since they always call themselves by some fake common American name. As if.

Anyway, Melissa says in this e-mail to "please accept our apologies for the unsatisfactory resolution" and then goes on to say that "unfortunately, our support team will not be able to assist you further through email" and that I should call support. I was e-mailing to report my unhappiness with calling support, and she said to call support.

Am I the only one who sees the madness in that?

So I called back support. First some other foreigner guy answers, and I can tell he's reading the notes with some sort of conviction. He asks me to kindly verify all my personal info. Fuck it, I just want my Xbox fixed at this point-- so I oblige. I didn't complain or bring up any of the issues I have with this, just kindly oblige. The moment I verify the last piece of personal info, the motherfucker hangs up on me.

So, I call back.

I call back and get another foreign dude named "Paul" (cough). Paul is at least kind enough though to see me through the whole order to get the Xbox replaced. He seems competent. The only weird thing was that he said I had to have my own box to send my Xbox in and that the shipping label would arrive by e-mail within 48 hours.

I swear, if the address to ship this thing is some foreign country I'm just going to buy a PS3.

Fuck this shit.

-Ox.

Football: West Virginia University at Colorado University, 09/18/08

2008-09-19T11:43:00.006-06:00

I am a huge West Virginia University football fan. I don't miss a game on television ever, but I haven't been to one in person since I was a student there back in the mid 1990s.

Until last night.

My son, bless him, he is seven years old and a big Colorado University football fan. He was born here, he says, so logically he should cheer for them. He loves nothing more than to rub it in my face when my team loses, and to cheer when his wins. He went with me last night and had a blast. It was the perfect storm: his favorite team, my favorite team, his first college football game ever, and my first in over a decade-- and all right here in Boulder, Colorado. When would that ever happen again?

$102 per ticket, and I bought four of them.

I had originally intended to take Cindy and her son with me, but after I recently called for an end to our relationship I didn't feel it was appropriate (even though she would have still gone). Part of me felt rotten about that, but not so much. Amanda and her brother were then going to come instead but she canceled last week, ostensibly due to work obligations. However, I think the end result was much better: I took Matt (my friend and manager at work) and my new friend Elena. I could see myself liking Elena a lot, but it is true that we are still new and I should try to take things slowly and get to know her. I'm glad she came, though.

My thoughts on the game and West Virginia's program:

* The Mountaineers played much better in this game than the trouncing at East Carolina last week, which is a positive. It sucks that we took another hit in the L column, but I believe we may be turning the corner now.

* I didn't understand why coach Bill Stewart and his staff decided to make so many off-season changes to the West Virginia offense, but I think they are realizing that and trying to get back to what this particular unit does best. Taking a recipe for success and throwing it away made no sense to me.

* Pat White would be considered an awesome passer if he had any receivers that want to catch. If a ball hits a receiver in the hands and the ball is dropped, that receiver isn't doing his job. At all. Everyone is going to stack against the run unless we can get some downfield catches going on.

* The offensive line is soft. They got pushed around badly last week, and now here at Colorado they never got a jump on the defense when all we needed were inches. This is going to kill us if it isn't fixed fast, and has already lost us two games.

* The defense played much better in the second half. Kudos for the adjustments that were made.

I'm a CU fan as well (just not in this one game, hah). Dan Hawkins is clearly turning this program around for the better and I see Big 12 championships in the near future. The CU student section was loud, impressive, and well-coordinated.

My son ran for a long touchdown in his flag football league game on Tuesday night and thought that was the best thing ever. In the end, when everyone erupted in cheers and rushed the field at the CU game, he saw for the first time the glories of big-time success. Hopefully it will leave a taste in his mouth that he needs to whet often for the rest of his future, whether it's in football or whatever else he chooses to pursue.

--------------

In other news:

* Cindy has been e-mailing me at work the last couple of days, but I have been ignoring. I really don't want to restart talks with her. I'm so done with it.

* Amanda flipped out on me when I told her I was seeing someone (Elena), and hasn't spoken since. It's interesting how quickly the veil of 'friendship' was torn to shreds.

* Teresa is breaking Isaiah's little heart. I wish she would move back here and be a mother to him, but her sole motivation appears to be money and having her fun. It's going to devastate him when he finally realizes that she doesn't care for him at all. :(

-Ox.

Here again.

2008-09-16T01:35:00.006-06:00

Why am I blogging again. It wasn't a question so much as a protest, or maybe a whine. Maybe I'm doing it because I think "she" might someday look here again.

A lot has happened in the last several weeks. No one will see this.

First of all, I had to let a friend go. She was getting on my last nerve with wanting to have sex with me, and I had zero attraction to her at all. The pouting, the crying-- it really got to me. I can be pretty picky about whom I want to be with in that way. It clearly wasn't her.

Cindy tried to guilt trip me about abandoning our friendship in any way she could, even pulling out the child card and saying her kid was now having trouble in school because of me. The fact is, her kid is a good reader with nothing else going for him but social problems. It has to do with his tantrums and wicked little fits. You'd think she would be thankful or something for my teaching him how to swim, how to ride a bicycle, how to make friends, how to catch and throw a ball-- basically how to function as a seven-year-old boy who has been babied so much his entire life that he cries if rain gets him wet. Hell, even his father is getting back into his life because of me.

Anyway.

So "she" waltzed into the office one day. I saw her right when she got off the elevator. My job requires that I had (inaccurate operator right there) to give her computer training the very next day. I wore my dark brown shirt, the one that contrasts nicely with the blue eyes and brings out the color in my hair-- not my words, obviously. I didn't realize the bait had actually set until about a week later when she was flirting pretty heavily. The next two weeks were fraught with sexy texts, sexy pics, and sexy phone calls.

But a funny thing happened.

She said no. I wanted to kiss her while she was looking so fine sitting on my living room floor. But that cheek turned, and I was devastated inside. Yes, I already knew she didn't want to have a relationship with me. She's 25, and unattached, and single. Clearly, I have a kid. But I thought for sure she was attracted to me in that way. Yes, in "that way".

I've spent the last two weeks trying to figure out what the fuck she wants with me. She feigns upset when I don't ask her over for a few days, or ask her to lunch, or say goodbye before I leave the office. I ask her over and she says no, or says yes and then cancels. I give her grief over the nature of our (cough) relationship-- I hate that fucking word sometimes-- and she will call and fight profusely to keep me on the string. I still don't get it.

Or her.

So I met another girl. She is probably more my type. Just about the same age as "her", also hella good looking, but not afraid to go for the goods. She's an investment manager or something. We met for lunch and I swear we sat in the truck for two hours after and talked. And kissed. She reached over and unzipped my jeans, and went right down. I gotta say, it was a nice departure from all this cat and mouse shit. And right there in the fucking parking lot.

I just want to make sure you aren't going to get upset when I see other people, "she" said. The thing is, I probably would have. Not at her, but at myself. I liked her style, her wit, those eyes, her ass. I've found myself getting hit on a lot lately for some reason, and found myself saying "no" nearly just as much. I thought "she" was someone I would have a long, passionate type of friendship with, the kind of friends everyone ought to have once in their life.

So here I am again, trying to sort this stuff out... maybe just make notes about what is happening in my life.

-Ox.

ESPN's "bonus coverage" is bullshit.

2007-11-24T16:27:00.003-07:00

So here I sat, happily watching the West Virginia vs. Connecticut football game on CBS. Both the Big East title and West Virginia's national title hopes are at stake. So what does ESPN do? They cut away from the game in the 3rd quarter for "bonus coverage" of a Georgia vs. Georgia Tech game that means nothing.

If I was watching the West Virginia vs. Connecticut game, how in the holiest of hells do you (ESPN) think that I want to watch two other teams instead? Don't you (ESPN) realize that I and a million other people schedule time out of our lives to watch this game, and we don't want to watch something else??

I think ESPN has become a bit monopolistic. You watch games on their network or you watch their feeds on other networks. What else is there? It's not like I have a choice to go take my college football viewing money elsewhere. Clearly, I'm not happy missing my game. It's not the first time, either.

Fuck you, ESPN.

-Ox.

Letting go

2005-11-27T23:59:00.001-07:00

Well, my little boy turned five today. I think back on his first words, his first steps, all the hugs and kisses, the changed diapers.. it doesn't seem like five years at all!! He's got it in his mind that he'll live with me forever, even says he's going to get married and have kids and still live in my house...haha. When I tell him he'll eventually want a place of his own, he cries and tells me "never". I figure I maybe got about another ten until he doesn't want much to do with his old dad anymore.

Sometimes I wish I could take a snapshot of this time, him being so little and innocent, his daddy being the center of his universe, and just keep it and come back to it any time I want. I guess that's selfish in some ways, but I'm already missing my baby who used to call me "Da-da-da-da-da" and grin from ear-to-ear. Not to say I don't love who he is now, because I do-- and more than ever-- but I do wish parenthood wasn't so much "letting go".

He still asks me to sing him the "night-night song", which I've been singing to him at night since he was born. When he was a baby, I'd rock him to sleep to it in his mother's rocking chair every night, his little arms around my neck. We went through a phase where I thought he'd forgotten about it, and I had almost forgotten the words. It's kind of a blur now even as to why, but I've come to the realization I should cherish those kinds of things and do them as long as he's willing.

His birthday celebration was pretty demure. His mother was out-of-town with her doctor boyfriend this entire week, and said she's going to celebrate his birthday next weekend. I had asked her if she'd like to get together tomorrow and do a little private party with me, her, him, and his brother, but she didn't want to. I woke up this morning debating whether to tell him it's his birthday yet, since she wasn't going to celebrate it for a whole week after, but he came in and plopped down next to me and informed me he was five today.

I took him out to a movie ("Chicken Little"), and later this evening gave him his gift and cake. The cake was a small tiramisu-esque chocolate one, with five blue candles. The gift was really from his "ma-maw", as she sent money for me to buy him one on her behalf. It was a Hot-Wheels "Gorilla Attack" playset, which he utterly enjoyed. He didn't ask for more toys, which is just how he is, but did ask why no one else was there to share cake with him. I would have liked to sprang a party, but a) all my family are back east, and b) parents tend to shy away from taking their kids to a party hosted by a single dad.

As of now, if I had to brag on my kid a moment:

* He can throw a football spiral (or catch one) for about ten yards
* He loves baseball and can hit pretty well with the bat
* He can basically swim, but diving hurts his ears
* He can play the intro to Nirvana's "Come As You Are" on guitar
* He knows how all the pieces move and capture in chess
* He's a car fanatic, and will amaze you with how many he knows
* He can read most words, except ones that don't follow phonetic rules
* He can count to at least 100, and is okay at addition and subtraction
* He makes friends easily, and is always popular in his school
* He fixes his own breakfast and cleans up without being told
* He doesn't wet the bed, unlike myself who did until I was like 12
* He's a rock-n-roll fanatic too, and knows a lot of bands and their songs
* He's not selfish, shares his toys at school and considers others
* He's got a great sense of humor, just laughs when you kid or tease him

Man, I love my boy! I guess I should forget the thoughts about keeping the here-and-now, and look forward to how he grows!

-Ox.

Damn, it's been so long.

2005-10-02T21:25:00.000-06:00

Okay, I haven't posted here for a very long time. Why? Because apparently Google isn't picking up my fucking blog site. Is there a point to writing if no one sees? Maybe. I guess that's why I'm writing now. I have a link on my caissa.com profile page, so at least those guys can see it (caissa.com is a chess site).

So things have really started rolling for me since I last wrote. First, my son and I visited my family in West Virginia. It was nice, the first time in over two years. He was sooo excited to get to see these people for the second time in his short life. Of course they've been in love with him since they first laid eyes on him. We went on the Cass Mountain Scenic Railroad, my son and parents and I. I honestly would never spend the money on that again. It wasn't very scenic, was expensive and boring, and the train billowed smoke all over you like a mofo. I took the boy to an amusement park called Camden Park that I went to once during most summers growing up. Crazy thing is, many of the rides are the same fucking equipment they had when I was a kid. Their wooden rollercoaster, "The Big Dipper", was scariest in the sense that you didn't know when the cart was going to fly off the track or the structure just completely fall apart from underneath you. They had a ferriswheel I wish I'd never gotten onto. The entire thing creaked and swayed from side-to-side like it was about to go any minute. I asked the guy to please stop and let us off after only one trip around. The water on the logrides was murky and black. My son asked me why it looked like toilet water, to which I said I wasn't sure but I wouldn't let any get in your eyes or mouth. I asked one of the workers there what's the best food in the house, and he said that he'd recommend the corn dogs because they're three for a dollar. Besides the fact that I don't eat processed meat or feed it to my kid, and that the corn shell is basically an hydrogenated sponge, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. So I asked him what was the best food, and he pointed me towards The West Virginia Grill or some shit, and said "But that place is really expensive". I went in and the most expensive item on the menu was some iceberg-ridden salad thing replete with processed cheese and Bacon Bits, for three dollars. But it was fun.

I bought two electric guitars and amps, one for myself and one for the boy. I got myself a Schecter Omen-6 and him a Washburn X-5 Mini. I spent waaay more time on picking out his guitar than I did mine. It was hard finding a quality 3/4-size guitar, and apparently nobody in the state carries one in-stock. I ended up buying it from a guitar vendor somewhere the hell in Wisconsin, http://www.kashmirmusic.com/. I made my purchase over the phone, and I must say the guys at the store were kind and understanding, and I have no complaints about the product. I bought my Schecter at the local Guitar Center, and so far have nothing but fret buzz and tuning headaches from it. Oh well, we're starting lessons soon, maybe the instructor can shed some light. At forty bucks an hour, he better!

My boss got transferred to another office out-of-state, leaving an open position. My best friend in this world got the job, which he deserved. He had been there at least two years longer than me, and had been doing stuff more closely related to the management position anyway. I put in a personal recommendation for him. So once he got promoted, cough, a new position was open in the chain. The company decided to open that job up for grabs, mostly to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interests and special treatment by the hiring manager aka my best friend. I think there was more to it as well, maybe like making me feel lucky just to get the job and so largely crushing my hopes of a raise. In the end I won the job fair and square, and plus I was already in-place and it was a very natural promotion to make. It would've been strange indeed if someone else got the job and I was sitting there still in my old position. But, no need to dwell on that now. The company is not filling my old job, so it's been busy as hell with only the two of us there.

Okay, so the boy is almost five (in two months). Over the last two years, he's picked up the name of chess pieces from watching me setting up a board for study and asking me what they were. I've never taught him how to play, never asked him if he'd like to learn. Yesterday, he was bored and went and grabbed the chess board and told me he wanted me to teach him. So I put only the pawns on the board and teach him how they can move and capture, and tell him the goal is to get his pawns to my end of the board and to stop me from getting mine to his end. He grasped that concept pretty easily, and after a few "games", I added the bishops and taught him their movements. After that game, we put the board away. This morning, he tells me he wants to play some more chess. So I say okay and put the pawns and the bishops back on. This time, after he gets a pawn down the board on me, I put the queen on and teach him her movements. So we're playing and he goes to move his h-pawn up one, and I say yeah but if you do that I'll just take your pawn...and he says, yeah but then my pawn will turn into a queen before yours and I'll win. A BLOODY SACRIFICE. Damn, I'm pretty proud of him. His first sacrifice!

Peace.

-Ox.

Review: The Amityville Horror (2005).

2005-05-11T10:54:00.000-06:00

I went to see The Amityville Horror movie alone the other night. I had seen that the running time was only eighty-nine minutes, so I wasn't sure if it would even be worth the price of a ticket for something seemingly so short-- I usually feel two hours at least is necessary to tell a good story. Let me say this: less than an hour into, I was so scared that I wasn't really sure I even wanted to stay for the rest of it.

This movie is probably the creepiest and most disturbing film I've ever seen-- and I was a kid who feasted on the most grotesque thrillers I could set my eyes on. I had seen the original Amityville film when I was much younger, and I don't recall being so frightened. Maybe it was the big-screen effect, I don't know, but I definitely would not let a teenager under eighteen go see this.

The movie opens up with a young adult named Ronnie hearing voices inside the house, then taking a shotgun and killing his parents and siblings. His little sister hid in a closet while he slaughtered the rest of the family, but he found her too. She looks up sadly at him saying "What's wrong, Ronnie?", right before he coldly blows her brains out. Not imagery I'd want a teen of mine seeing.

Years later another family moves into the house with the knowledge of the crimes that had been committed there, as they couldn't resist its bargain price. Before long the house has a major effect on them and infighting begins. The (step)father turns into an abusive monster of a man, issuing his own brand of discipline especially on the kids. The mother wants to leave, but he tells her emphatically that they are staying, that it was her idea to move in.

The movie starts to get really scary when the family begins seeing things and the young daughter is found in a series of extremely dangerous predicaments. As things start getting more and more out of hand, the mother brings in a Catholic priest who soon ends up running out of the house and driving away as fast as humanly possible. She does some research and learns the house has a horrid history, while her husband finds out the same in a much worse way. The mother's struggle to get her family out alive and intact is the driving force behind the end of the movie.

I thought this movie was done really well. There were comical moments, not overdone, at just the right moments, the scary stuff was really scary, and the acting was actually quite good. Part of me wishes the near-ending when the man and his wife were finding out more about the secrets of the house's history would have been drawn out further, but I'm honestly not sure how much longer I could've taken it. There was one silly thing that kept irritating me throughout, and that's why the mother kept going into town and leaving the kids there alone with her ill husband-- why didn't she take them with her?

Recommended?: YES, but only for courageous 18+ fans of the genre

Score: 8 Oxes.

-Ox.

Review: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

2005-05-01T09:54:00.000-06:00

I went and saw the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie last night with my son, my ex-girlfriend (read: my son's mother), and her other son. I read the book series sometime between sixth and eighth grades, which was about twenty years ago. I still fondly remember some things from the books, but I'm not a rabid expert at this point so I won't concentrate on what was/wasn't left out of the books in the making of the movie.

I've read other reviews that painted a less-than-enthusiastic picture, anything from the sets being "elaborately absurd" to the film being overly "uneven". For the most part, I liked it. We went to the 7:30 pm show and, despite the movie being nearly two hours in length and not a cartoon, my four-year-old son stayed awake and interested throughout the entire thing. He was cracking up laughing during some scenes.

I was surprised at how much I remembered. When the Vogon poetry was being read, I actually still knew the words-- "O freddled gruntbuggly...". Back in school, we used to recite this little passage to each other on a daily basis and I had completely forgotten about it. So there were some nostalgic moments for me to which most others in the crowd were probably indifferent. I thought the whole "Always carry a towel" concept was vastly underdone in the movie, though.

Ford Prefect was-- well-- perfect; he was precisely what I had imagined when I read the books. Zaphod Beeblebrox was obviously doing a George Bush impression throughout, and it fit quite well. Arthur Dent seemed kinda flat to me, but not in the intentional way you might be imagining-- maybe just underdeveloped. The Vogons were rendered very well. Probably just me, but I couldn't stand Marvin's voice and I am definitely not a Zooey Deschanel fan, who played Trillian.

For those who aren't familiar, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an improbable romp through the universe, which began with the demolition of Earth. Arthur Dent was plucked from the doomed planet by his best friend and alien-in-disguise Ford Prefect, whose life he had himself saved years earlier. They hitch a ride on a hostile spaceship, are ejected into space, and then saved by another friendlier, stolen one operated by Arthur's girlfriend and the President of the Galaxy. The President, Zaphod Beeblebrox, is in search of The Ultimate Question and takes them on a journey to get it.

In the end, I thought the movie was very entertaining but probably should've been longer to fit everything in appropriately. My ex-girlfriend said it was "OK", but she liked the book series much better. Her nine-year-old son was inspired enough to say he's going to get the first book at the library this week. Our four-year-old son liked it a lot, and was full of questions both throughout the movie and afterwards.

Recommended?: YES

Score: 7 Oxes.

-Ox.

Greeting.

2005-04-29T14:32:00.000-06:00

So here I sit at work, roughly 2:30pm, seven inches of snow in a very late April and still falling. It won't really stop snowing in Colorado until May is through. It can be depressing at times, especially with such short summers too.

I live in Boulder, home of soy, tofu, and filtered water. Some of the people can be a bit odd, but it's not so bad really. The mountains are beautiful, especially in late spring before the grasses have turned brown from lack of rain and too much heat.

We're in the midst of "Employee Appreciation Week" here at the office; on Wednesday I got an Apple iPod Shuffle as a gift. I've found myself resisting technology recently for some strange reason, but I gave it a shot and I like it a lot. I'm not sure I have much use for it, but.

I just got back to my desk from watching a movie here at the office. They picked "The Incredibles", which I've seen twice already. It's a decent movie though, and a nice treat. They provided lunch, half a Subway sandwich. lol.

It was my sister's birthday yesterday. She's 29 now I think. I haven't seen her in over two years, or any of my family for that matter-- they live in West Virginia. I sent her a card (belatedly), which is good for me because I usually don't, and a check for $100 to help her out.

I have a son who is four years old. His mother and I have been separated since before his birth, although we've tried working it out numerous times since. Stupidly, ridiculously, I've found myself under her spell again. I already know it won't work, but I can't seem to stop myself.

My life and job are bittersweet. Good to meet you-- more in the coming days.

-Ox.