Behind the 8-Ball

Wow. What a weird week! Where do I begin?...

I took Kelly to Indianapolis with me, so that she could sit around for hours and watch me play pool in the regional tournament. Hey, why not? I need to feed my ego somehow, and as long as she was willing...

It was a good tournament. I didn't think I was going to get to play 9-ball, because they were pushing back 9-ball matches until March. However, for my handicap level, we got to play. I started with an 8-ball match, which I won. The guy I played was very good, and it was a close match. He wasn't happy with his shooting, but nobody is happy with their shooting when they lose.

As soon as I turned the score sheet in, they immediately put me up for a 9-ball match. This was to be the pattern all day; in 6 hours of pool, I got absolutely no time to rest and recharge. It was an endurance test, and I didn't pass.

As it turns out, I met the same guy in my 9-ball match. He was out for revenge, and he got it -- he beat me by 5 points. It was a great match again, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing him. He was a very good sport.

This went on for 4 more matches, alternating between 8-ball and 9-ball. I survived for 3 matches each. I was tired by the end, but all in all it was a good time. Kelly got to meet many of my friends, and we had fun.

Monday morning, I woke up incredibly dizzy and nauseous. I stayed home, losing a day of pay (I have been working as a consultant). It turns out it might be some sort of inner ear infection, but I will need to wait until I have full medical coverage when I am hired full time at DAV before I can get it checked out. More on that in a moment...

On Thursday, I hit a pothole driving in to work. I slammed it so hard, it blew out my tire. Fortunately, I was pulling off the highway into a parking lot when it happened, so I was able to just pull over to change the tire. Of course, I discovered that the spare (which I never used for 11 years) was not a solid rubber tire, but inflatable--and it was flat! I was a block away from a gas station, though, so I figured I'd be ok until I could get there and put air in the tire. I did so, and fortunately the air held!

I was able to get the tire replaced at Tire Discounters in a matter of minutes later that morning, so all's well in that department. Now, if I can just get the state to fix that pothole... wish me luck; I don't have a lot of confidence in our government at the moment...

Another strange thing happened Thursday... I received a notification that a new person was following me on twitter, by the name of heatherschmid. Great. I have received these before, where some person follows me, expecting me to see who they are, and follow some link to their porn site. I followed her link (hey, it's porn, why not???), and discovered that she is not a pornstar wannabe, but a recording artist. Ok... using twitter to promote herself? That's cool, I guess.

I wondered if she would talk to me... so I followed her back, and sent her a private tweet (go to twitter.com if you'd like to learn what it's about). She responded to me! We had a short conversation, during which I visited her site and listened to her music. I especially liked Molihua, and I LOVED her cover of "It's Been a While." Go to her site -- you can listen to all of her music on the website. She informed me that her music has been nominated for a Grammy as well, so of course now I am going to watch for it...

I am not a fan of spam, and of course I get tired of the "come visit my webcam" requests. However, it was quite refreshing to have an up and coming pop/rock star take the time to talk to me on Twitter one on one. She has gained herself a True Fan.

Update: Today, I found out that they are going to push my hire date back one week. I was supposed to start Monday, but since it's a holiday, I have to wait a week before they will start me. Of course, this means I don't get paid for Columbus day. Yay. At least DAV has offered to allow me to work extra hours for the week so I don't lose pay, and I still get a three day weekend. Plus, Robert Half (my consulting company) has offered to take me to lunch Monday. So, I guess that worked out ok...

I'm really looking forward to working here at DAV full time. It's a great organization, and the people here are wonderful. I am happy to (almost) be a part of the family. I can see myself being here for a very long time. It's almost like I've arrived home after a long, tiring trip. Ok, ok, that sounds cheesy, but what can I say? I love cheese!