I had a dream this morning. As I've said before, it's pretty uncommon for me to remember my dreams. I don't think I've remembered one since the last one. Okay, THAT made sense. Since the last one I blogged about, back in freaking I dunno, lemme look it up. November. Maybe it's because I don't normally go to bed until I'm actually tired. Or maybe it's because my definition of "tired" is "if I don't go to bed NAO Pattie's gonna find me passed out at my computer or on the crapper. Again." Maybe I need to look at that. And maybe I'm rambling.

The dream. That's right. For whatever reason I dreamed I was back at Bluffton. Trigger and Hoch were there, even though it was my senior year. Found my room and started talking to the new roomies and the people popping in and out, none of whom I recognized. The thing I found remarkable was how easily I was talking to everybody, that's never been my strong suit. So why this dream now? Some possibilities:

* I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Bluffton. Who wouldn't want to dream about it?

* As of February 15, my student loans were paid in full. OH GOD YES. Now I can think about Bluffton without also thinking "Jeez, I'm STILL paying them?"

* My mom's getting ready to redo some rooms at her house, which means I'm going to be cleaning my old room out (and probably cleaning out stuff here, since I'm sure I'll find stuff there I want to bring here). Preparation for a waking trip down memory lane?

* Long nights of pushing a dust mop and cleaning crappers allow for copious amounts of introspection, and occasionally the topic turns to where my life has been -- and why -- and where I want it to go. One of the things I've realized is that I need to readjust how much it matters what certain people think, say and do. Let it reflect on what kind of person they are, then let it go. Easier said than done, maybe, but hey. Maybe a reaction to introspection?

* I've also realized that I really want to reconnect with Jon, one of my friends from Bluffton and one of the few I've spoken to since. (His wedding was where I met Pattie.) He's far from perfect, sure, but show me someone who isn't.

* Speaking of weddings, Rachael's is in a few weeks. The last time I was at a non-family wedding where I was the one who first knew the couple was, in fact, back when I was at Bluffton. Maybe that one's a stretch, but hey, my major was chemistry, not dream analysis.

I'm supposed to blog about whether or not I'm nervous. Of course not, it's a wedding -- stuff always goes wrong, you just deal with it. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Other than that, not much new. How you guys doing?

So iunno, I've just lost motivation to blog. Only reason I'm really doing it now is to put off calling my interviewer back -- I despise talking on the phone. Screw it, I'll call. Didn't get it, ah well. I got more dental swords, these ones have a flip-out point guard so Nate will be happy to know they don't reach far into the ear canal. Not that the waxy fortress has made any return anyways, I think irritation from the loud radio chatter and earpieces at OfficeMax had a lot to do with it. So I'm-a be married in a little under two months, and Pattie has come to the realization that momma and I were right about eloping. It'll still be a nice wedding, just much headacheness planning it. We're still on track, although we've still got some invitation stragglers to get addresses for and some groomsmen still need fitted for tuxes.

And I make fun of Pattie for not using carriage returns. Wow. I have to pee.

I am returned. So, Pirates of the Caribbean Online. For as good a speller as I am, I ALWAYS want two "R"s and one "B" in that word. Anyways. The limited free trial is nifty. I went ahead and did the $5 for the first month of unlimited, will know better in a few weeks if it's worth $10/mo after that. So far it's really fun, which surprises me because I normally hate the behind-the-character-3D crapola. Back in the day I think I tried to play Guild Wars for a whole week before I gave up in disgust. Leave it to Disney to finally get it right.

So our furnace is out again. The one nice thing about renting is that it's someone else's problem when stuff goes to pot. Which is ironic, because going to the pot is my only problem when the furnace goes out. I swear that toilet seat has a layer of dry ice on it.

Shill #2: Have I told you guys about NutraCal? Good stuff. I'm not personally worried about calcium deficiency -- I'd actually originally gotten it for Pattie, as it also boasts increased energy. Turns out Pattie can't handle it on the far end of her GI tract, but I've noticed it gives me more energy. Anyone who's interested can get a jar for $3.85, coupon code is CAL101. Without the period. That just denotes the end of the sentence.

I like green tea.

So I finally used up the last of that wretched toothpaste I had. The flavor wasn't bad, it was the packaging. It was a two-part toothpaste, but both parts were in one segmented tube. As you can guess, only one part ever came out at a time, and it got worse as I went up the tube. Technically there was still a little useable product in there, I just gave up on it. Good riddance.

If someone comes up to you and asks you to clean out the sink thigamajigger, are you going to figure out they wanted you to take the dishes out of the strainer, which is not in the sink? Yeah, me either. And that apparently makes me an asshole. Huh.

And I'm spent.

You guys really need to remind me to update this once in a while. It's been too long. So, what to expect in 2008? You've come to the right place!

Pattie and I will get married on April 26. I will give her lots of kisses.

Someone other than George W. Bush will be elected President. I'd like to see Brian Moore elected myself, but it won't happen. Neither major party has anyone spectacular running -- well, Hillary is spectacularly unelectable -- so I expect a relatively low voter turnout in both primary and general elections.

The TV writers' strike will continue until one side realizes that TV viewers generally don't care. My money is on the TV execs realizing it first, when reality shows like Survivor and Big Brother draw their first winter's blood -- locking the writers more-or-less permanently out in the cold.

The major-league publicity stunt that is the BALCO investigation, headed up by current Boston Red Sox and former Florida Marlins director George Mitchell -- and hey, anyone care to guess which teams don't have a single active player named in Mitchell's report? -- will do just enough to keep baseball in the news until spring training comes along. Barry Bonds will be the only player taken to court, and he'll brush it off like a bad pitch.

Natalee Holloway and Jimmy Hoffa will both remain missing.

MySpace will lose much of its popularity as spammers begin to win the War on Tom. A vicious cycle of similar sites becoming more popular only to be overrun will commence.

Diablo 3 will be announced in 2008, with an estimated release of third quarter 2009. If the foot-dragging on 1.10 is any indicator, look for it to actually hit shelves in 2012.

HD-DVD will cement its position as hi-def media of choice, due mostly to better affordability of its players. Blu-Ray will hang around longer than Betamax did by virtue of its use in PS3 games, but will cease to be a major contender in the movie market and will likely never have consumer-level burnable media.

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And now for something completely different: my predictions for the responses to my predictions for 2008.

Several people will tease me for being mushy.

One person each will comment on Brian Moore's party affiliation, and mistakenly assume my Hillary bash was misogynistic.

My blog readers generally won't care about my TV predictions.

At least two people will visit upon me the rage of a thousand fiery suns for my BALCO comments.

Epic lulz will be had over Natalee and Jimmy.

By that point everyone will be spent and/or saying tl;dr, and MySpace, Diablo 3 and the HD wars will be universally panned.

A word to the wise, learn from my mistake or suffer my fate: If you're going to deep-fry a pot pie, thaw it first, for not even boiling oil shall warm its frozen heart.

My aunt went on NutriSystem for a few months, and I think I inherited about a month's worth of food she didn't like. Good stuff if you like a wide variety of foods, though probably not worth the cost even if you liked it all. Especially since some of these "meals" are "here's turkey in viniagrette, go buy lettuce and salad toppings".

The new job's going well enough, would still like to get out of the retail environment though. I was hoping it was just Lima that was a dead spot for lab jobs -- apparently it's the entire area. Honda's Anna plant is doing a round of open hiring, it'd be nice to get a call back from them, otherwise we'll have to figure out where we want to look for jobs at.

Wedding planning has slowed down a bit, I think we're at a point where there's not so much to do until closer to time.

Anybody wanna come do my dishes?

So back in the mid-'80s, our computer was a Tandy 1000 HX. A lot of stuff on it may have been bare-bones, but one thing it did have was a kick-arse (for the time, anyways) 3-voice sound card. And we had Thexder, an incredibly fun (and incredibly difficult) platform game. For whatever reason, they opted for classical music in the intro and credits, and thus my first exposure to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Fast-forward twenty years, and that's what we're playing when Pattie walks down the aisle. How many people can honestly say they had video game music at their wedding ceremony?

So the rotten thing about Wal-Mart is, they're paying me more than some of the guys training me. Not that I want to make less, but they could afford to pay the veterans more.

I have finally made the pilgrimage to Sonic and partaken of its tasty beverages. They even put real limes in the cherry limeade (the cherries are hit-or-miss) with which they make the SuperSonic Sunrise. And jalapeños in the breakfast burritos. It's a good thing they're not any closer...

So, even trying to do everything simple and cheap, throwing a wedding is an expensive affair. Which I'm sure a few of you could have told me, but anywho. Aside from the honeymoon, most of the budget is for miscellaneous stuff. Before I'd have figured it'd be food, but one of Pattie's aunts loves to cook so we just have to buy bulk food.

As promised, here is the ring. Since it took me over thirty minutes to deliver, these pics are coming at you free of charge.





In other news, I finally got ambitious enough last night to figure out how to make my computer suspend, since the button for it on the keyboard doesn't work. Not that I really missed it here at home -- I'd just let the computer power up while I was cleaning clutter off the keyboard, mouse and chair -- but it'll be nice once I take the beast to Pattie's.

Snow in April. Duh-duh-dun-DUN-dun, I'm lovin' it.

So, Pattie says I should blog. But what about?

Normally I just blog when I'm in the mood to, I'm pretty streaky with it. Last time was the 12th, that doesn't seem like that long ago to me. Also, sometimes I blog when there's nothing else to do, but she's pretty much taken care of that. Not that I'd want it any other way.

Work is pretty much the same -- too much bullshit for too little money. The purple people-eater is running fine, it's weird seeing my old car with Michigan plates -- did I mention the brake job that Midas quoted as $940 only cost Jerry $30 to do? C'est la vie.

As an aside, I'd like to say that I hate Pattie's keyboard and mouse, although the way things are set up here I don't think wired would work well.

Pattie and I are getting married, I know I haven't mentioned that. April 26, 2008 seems like such a long time away. While I'm generally looking forward to it -- even if it is just making official the love we already have -- methinks the logistics are eventually going to become a nightmare. Mom pitched a fit when she found out we were planning on kilts, Mike threatened to pitch a fit if I nix the kilts, and Pattie just wants me to keep the peace but sooner or later one or the other is gonna wind up being pissed anyways. I know what I should do -- set both sets of demands aside, sit down with Pattie and decide what we want, and then invite them to be a part of it. And I guess I've committed to doing that, 'cause it's not like Mike can't read this.

But I'm not going to look at anything tonight. Mentally tired and physically awake is never a good combination for wedding plans. Or blogging. Pattie may kill me in the morning, even though she kinda asked for it.

I think part of the problem is that I always figured when the time came, I'd elope -- I can't say as I really have a "dream wedding". All I know is that I don't want shotguns at the ceremony (clay pigeon-shooting at the reception is fine), I don't want a cerberus shooting bees from its mouths, and we can't have lilacs or lillies or else Christy's face will swell up.

I know I just said that it seems like a long ways off, but when I cross-reference it with how badly I tend to procrastinate -- and with how many things can go wrong -- it really isn't.

Boy, for not having anything to blog about, I certainly am burning up the keyboard tonight.

So I, of the mutant immune system that almost never ails, haven't had more than half a voice for two weeks now, going strong into a third. No pain, no fever, nothing to indicate I'm sick except extra phlegm and a voice that sounds like I'm 90 years old and smoked for 70, as a coworker put it. It's certainly put a damper on the Karaoke Revolution, which is much more fun than I thought it would be prior to playing it.

Oh, I LIED to you! Work hasn't been s^2 d^2 -- as of Saturday night when I left, this week's schedule still wasn't posted. Gotta love that. So I'm assuming it's the same as it has been, and if anyone says anything they can die in a fire.