Mike's Ramblings

An update

2007-11-09T08:51:00.001-05:00

Ok so I haven't update in a long time. I started a new job recently. I've been on the job for two weeks so far. I have a pretty good outlook on this job. It's been a pretty smooth start. The company seems nice and all of the people have been very cool. Once I get into the swing of things I'll be travelling a ton, but mostly domestic destinations which will be a positive thing.

The summer off was nice. It was really nice to have a couple of months with my girlfriend and our new puppy.

For now back to work.

Global Dimming

2007-09-11T12:41:00.000-05:00

Check out this PBS/Nova info on global dimming. I find this fascinating. There is a Nova video documentary that plays once in a while. It's kind of scary.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/

The Puppy's Site

2007-09-04T11:10:00.001-05:00

So Tori put together a Blogger site for the puppy. We have only had her for a few days now. She's cute as a button, but a total little turd. I'm so glad we got her. She's pretty much house trained. She goes on command. She has only had a few accidents, but she's been a little sick and her schedule hasn't really stabilized yet.

I'm amazed by the jaw strength of a 8 week old Corgi. She's nipped me pretty good a couple of times.

Tori and Mike's Dog

2007-07-07T09:33:00.001-05:00

This is the dog me and Tori are getting. So cute!!!

Leaving My Job

2007-07-01T23:54:00.000-05:00

So I'm leaving my job. This coming Friday is my last day. I gave the place about a year and three quarters. I just didn't like it.

I quit without another job to go to. I figured I have the money to take my time and look for something new. This way I can have some time with my family and with my girlfriend, as well as have a bit of the summer to get into shape and enjoy the sun. I'm in no rush. I'll definitely be looking for a place that I can spend an extended amount of time for my next job.

Life is all about the experiences and this place was definitely an experience. I'll miss parts of the job and of course I'll miss most of the people. I wont miss some of the situations that the place put me into. I'm happy to be out of there. I feel lighter already. I wish them good luck. Hopefully I'll have some good luck myself. I hope everyone's summer is shaping up to be a good one.

I'm not ignoring you I'm just busy

2007-04-24T20:26:00.000-05:00

OK so I got shit for not talking to one of my friends... She thought I was mad at her for something... I forget what. She was mad because I hadn't called her in like 2 weeks. For the record I often have to travel to Europe. That's where I was for the last two weeks.

For those of you who think that I am ignoring them, that is not the case. It's just that Long Distance phone calls from Europe are really expensive. That and I am generally pretty bad about keeping in touch with people.

Off to Europe Again

2007-04-08T03:15:00.000-05:00

OK so Monday I am off to Lux again... I should really learn some French and German.

The Serial Bumper

2007-03-19T20:04:00.000-05:00

OK so last night at like 12:30 am the kid next door backed into my sister's car while driving his father's car. My sister's car was parked in the driveway!!! IN!!! the driveway!!! he had backed into our driveway and hit her car.

This is the third car that this kid has hit. One was the van of my friend and contractor. The other was my car while my mother was driving. She was backing up and was already in the street and he back into her without looking.

So that's two parked cars and one moving one... the kid is a hazard. I'm afraid to park my car even in my driveway... He hit my sister's car IN THE DRIVEWAY!!!

I was startled by a fairly loud car alarm so I looked out my kitchen window. I saw a SUV type car in our driveway very close to my sister's car, so I wrote the plate number down. I didn't know it was the neighbor at first, it was late. So they drove off before I got a chance to go out and really look. I went up to the third floor to talk to my sister and she told me that she saw the car close to her car from the window up there too. We weren't sure if the alarm was hers or not, but we went down to look at her car. What do you know? there were scratches on her bumper. We went back inside because it was cold. We talked for awhile.

Then the car came back and pulled into the neighbor's yard. This made us angry. This is the third car that has been damaged in like 8 months. We walked over to talk to them. The kid that hit my car was the one driving... how do I know... he stepped out of the driver's side. My sister said something like "hey I think you guys hit my car..." The kid's father went mental... in like seconds. He was yelling and screaming and throwing a temper tantrum like a child. Then he was in my sisters face and I thought he was going to hit her. He called her a bitch and some other stuff and accused her of trying to scam them. We just went over to talk to them. I had a Mag lite flashlight in my hand, and my cell phone in my pocket. I really thought he was going to hit my sister. I thought I was going to have to defend my sister and dial 911 to get the police there. Yes, the guy was that unreasonable. We never even yelled except to calm him down, but he never did.

So my sister went back in the house because he was obviously an unreasonable asshole. His kid was much more calm. I almost felt bad for the kid because his dad was such a shithead. By the way the kid and I had come to an agreement over my car, a signed one. We kept it out of insurance. Under the agreement he supposed to pay me the value of the damage that he did to my car. I had gotten it appraised at a little over 500 bucks. The agreement was that he would pay me a little over 500 dollars in 3 installments all due by the end of January. The kid gave me a money order for 191 dollars a few weeks after the agreement was signed. It was more than I thought he would come up with since he complained about not having money right away during the agreement process. So it's march now and he hasn't paid any other money. He works at a pizza shop. I don't really need the money, I just wanted him to be accountable for his actions. I was planning on calling him and saying that he could forget about the money. But since his father was such a shit head about the other night I can't in good conscience do that now.

I feel that the whole damned family over there needs to learn accountability... what is it about people these days... You hit someone... you got caught... be nice... My sister was going to just ask what happened and was looking for an apology. The scratches were all on the plastic so she wasn't going to bother fixing it. She just wanted an apology.. but they we so scary and nasty about it that now she's going to file a report with the police. She has already filed it with the insurance company. Whoops being an asshole doesn't get you anywhere after all. Just say your sorry and take responsibility and maybe things wont be so bad.

Because of the way the guy acted I'm a little scared of the neighbor and I'm going to put up some camera's in front of my house in case they hit more cars or do something stupid. Since I know they wont take responsibility, and at least one of them responds in a very violent manner. Too bad the world can't have more reasonable people in it.

Just an update

2007-03-15T19:14:00.000-05:00

So I figured I haven't written in a while, so I should update.

I've been in the country for the last few weeks. It's nice to be home. I haven't really done much the past month. I've mostly been hanging around catching up on TV shows that I let my computer record while I have been traveling. For some reason I don't watch any TV when I travel.

I can't wait until the summer. I want to have a cookout and see some of the family. Having a job where I travel all the time seems to give me and excuse to let myself get disconnected from the people I know.

I miss my girlfriend... I am anxiously awaiting her move up North. She's moving in this summer. I'm pretty excited.

Ramble ramble ramble...

Uncle Dan, Goodbye

2007-02-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

So my uncle died. I didn't go to his wake or his funeral. I was away. I can't deal with the death. It's gotten harder and harder for me to deal with death since my father died. I just don't really want to see anymore of my family members gone. I know it is inevitable... but it's just too much.
I talked to him before I left the country for business. I told him that I loved him and that I respected him for fighting his demons. He told me that he was making his peace. That it was tough, but that he understood the situation.

I'm glad I got to meet my uncle. He had gotten himself sober for a few years before his illnesses. It was like I was meeting him for the first time. He was a nice guy. When my dad died I told him how much him being sober meant to me. I hugged him and he hugged me back. He later slipped back into drinking. In my mind though he had done something monumental. I don' think anyone thought that he would be able to conquer that demon. I didn't think that we would be able to, but he did. It was a huge inspiration to me. It wasn't the only time he was able to give up drinking for an extended period of time, but it was the one that touched me the most. I love my uncle. I respected him. I'll miss him a lot.

He was an intelligent man. A dark soul with a cloud over him like a gloomy day. It was kind of poetic though. He was a well read person. He wrote, though I have never seen his writing. He was a great guitar player. I think he was the first person that ever played guitar live in front of me. He impressed me, but I don't know if he ever knew. I loved him, I think he knew. I told him a few times. It's just sort of hitting me now that I will never be able to talk to him again. I hope that he is with my dad where ever they are... I hope that he tells my dad that I cried for him when he was gone. I hope my uncle knows that I'm crying for him now. I hope that he tells my dad I love him. I hope that my uncle has his hand back and is sit around a fire somewhere with my dad. I hope they are smoking a joint and playing the guitar, and enjoying themselves. I miss them both. I hope they are both happy where they are.

Someday hopefully many years from now I can join them, and tell them the stories of the things they will miss out on since they have been gone. I hope my uncle's kids will have the same opportunity. I hope the stories that we have to tell them are happy, filled with the laughter of children and the smiles of loved ones. It's so damned hard having another family member leave. It's so hard knowing that I can't walk down the street and see him over gramma's house reading the paper on a weekend.

Uncle Dan,

I respect you and love you, and I'll miss you greatly. You were a good guy. You were a hot shit. Tell my dad I said hi. The family sends their love with you.

Your loving Nephew,

Mike

Travel Blues

2007-02-15T06:41:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned that Traveling can really suck. The waiting is the worst part. I'm sitting in Dublin airport right now... I get to go see my girlfriend today, but as fate would have it weather has the plane delayed. I'm not mad, but man the fates can be cruel. I've been looking forward to seeing my girl for this whole trip and the day I go to see her I get delayed. I must have done something bad because it feels like a karma thing.

So the trip wasn't that bad. The project progressed a little. I didn't accomplish what I was looking to get done, but it wasn't a total failure. Though this project that I am on is starting to seem like a slow grinding horror show. I would give details, but I can't since I have a non-disclosure agreement... So my flight out of here is delayed by 3 hours... Fun. the worst part of having to wait in an airport is that you are usually exhausted and there isn't a place to take a nap. I would definitely pay 10 bucks for a comfortable place to nap with an alarm clock so that I could still make my flight.

So Dublin is a nice city. I didn't get to see much of it. I was too busy and too tired to get out and have a serious look around. I'll have to bring my girl here this summer and visit properly. I miss my girl intensely. I'm so glad work let me have the day off to go down and see her. The cool thing is that they also footed the bill for the plane trip there and back. It was a nice gesture since the client asked that I stay an extra few days. Work is starting to get better, by that I mean the company. They are starting to get a little more flexible. Them making this gesture went a long way toward improving my morale. Though I'm really looking forward to not sitting in an airport or living out of a hotel for the next few weeks.

There is a kid here that is really bored and tired and upset... crying and shouting, which can be annoying, but after my like 5th or 6th trip I just feel bad for the kids. I'm sure they don't want to be stuck in an airport without there toys and friends. Poor little buggers. Hopefully when i have kids I wont have to make my children endure that. I remember long car rides being a pain in the ass for my parents (by that I mean me being the pain in the ass). I don't know how my mom got me and my sister through the 18 hour flight to Thailand when we were little. Come to think of it I miss Thailand. I should start making plans to go back there soon. I miss talking to my mother's sisters, and my little cousins. I especially miss my little cousin Yok. She is a cool cat. Ok well my time on the web will expire soon so.... until I get to Newark NJ...

Friday Night in Luxembourg

2007-02-02T17:19:00.000-05:00

Ok so this week has been ok. 1st Lux trip of the year has gone ok. Lots of stuff discussed with the client and more to go, but I think it clarified a lot for me. Through discussion, some times more heated than it needed to be, things they were expecting were expanded upon. We got some information that my company needs for what they want done, and got a better idea of the information that is missing and needs more research from the client side. So far the trip hasn't solved everything, but I think we got more done than I initially thought when the client left the office today.

So tomorrow I'm off to Dublin. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I wish I had more free time there. Also wish my first visit wasn't for business. It would have been nice to go to Ireland for the first time with my girlfriend, and have a week or two to explore and see the family that I don't know. Oh well at least I'm going.

Overall this trip hasn't been that bad for me. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I don't have impending doom hanging over my head like I did the last time. The fact that I got to see my girlfriend the weekend before I had to leave gave me a huge boost to my morale. All in all this trip just hasn't had the cumulative negative circumstances that last time did.

OK so what am I doing in on a Friday night? Well I just came back from dinner, and I have an early flight tomorrow (6:45am). Plus, I don't drink and don't really know that many people here... and I'm a nerd.

FIRST TRIP OF THE YEAR

2007-01-29T15:00:00.001-05:00

So my first trip to Luxembourg this year has officially begun. This
one is a little different. I get to go to Dublin for a week after
Lux. The client's home turf. It should be an interesting experience.
wish me luck

--
Regards,

Mike Flynn
Head Honcho
www.mcflynn.com

Family

2007-01-26T12:00:00.001-05:00

I hope someday I'll be able to have a job where I can see my family. That I will know my children, and be able to enjoy my time with my wife.
I say this because one of my family members has a pretty bad form of cancer, I just found out the other day. I regret not knowing him better. I'm going to try and see him this weekend. It's going to be hard. It's one more family member that I love who is hurting.
Work is sending me to Europe again. Hopefully I will have a chance to talk to him when I get back. I'm not sure I will though. I was told that they didn't give him much time. Life is too short to miss out on time with loved ones.

I hope I have the time to say good bye. I hope I am able to know my own family. It's cruel that life is taken so easily. It shouldn't be like this. Modern life is so cold and impersonal, always in a rush, and greatly lacking in compassion. I'm going to miss my uncle. I've missed all of my family these past few years.

Slow days

2007-01-23T12:07:00.001-05:00

The last few day at work have been dull as they could get. Days like these I miss the pacing of my last job, where i had daily deadlines and was busy on a more steady basis. I'm currently in a project based job and while I like the job, the slow days are excruciating.

Sunday Jan. 7th Birthdays

2007-01-10T18:38:00.001-05:00

Sunday my younger cousin John became a father. His first child was born on Sunday, January 7th 2007. Congratulations! to the new father and to the new mother. Welcome to the world young John (the babies name).

Coincidentally the baby was born the same date as one of my former bosses. Happy birthday Tom! He is a great guy I miss working with him.

Sorry for posting it late.

Testing 1 2 3

2007-01-10T15:52:00.001-05:00

I'm just testing sending a picture to blogger via blogger moblie. This is a picture of my little cousin. the picture is a bit dark but what do you expect it was taken on my phone.

What Santa Brought Me For Christmas...

2006-12-30T00:51:00.000-05:00

OK so first things first... I got the time off from work. They didn't end up asking me not to take the time off. So that's good news. Score one for work.

Things are going well with me and my girlfriend she came to visit. She is up for 11 days total. I really missed her. It's good having her around. She didn't make it up for Christmas. She spent the holiday with her family who lives down south.

I did the usual. I went to my grandmother's house. It was really nice. There were a lot of little kids this year, which made it loud, but also made it feel more like Christmas. There is something about a room filled with little kids yelling, running and playing, that makes the day.

There was of course, too much food, lots of desert, good conversation, and surprises from cousins and other family members that I don't see too often. One for instance, one of my little cousins has gotten engaged. Good news, but strange to me since she is 8 years younger. It still weirds me out when my younger cousins have children or get married. I guess it makes me feel old. Oh well so is life, which in general is good.

The construction on the house should be picking back up soon. Hopefully it will be done before winter is over... who knows though... All in all I'm pretty happy. I am enjoying my time off. I'm enjoying being home. I'm having fun hanging around the house with my girlfriend. It was nice to see my family and I got to see my sister for a while. That was really fun to have my sister and my girlfriend home at the same time. They get along really well. I wish my sister's boyfriend could have been up at the same time though. He is a really nice guy. It would have been nice to all go out to dinner a few times. To have one of those nights where a bunch of family is around and we pull out the board games. Those nights can be really fun. Next year we'll plan it a little better I think, and the house will be done by then so there will be more room to hang out.

It's strange that between me, my girlfriend; my sister, and her boyfriend we all live in different states... just and interesting fact.

Right now life is good.

Update From Lux

2006-12-17T10:29:00.000-05:00

Ok so I have been in Luxembourg for two weeks now. I'm bored, lonely, stressed and sick of being in what otherwise would be a nice little country. And did I mention I was stressed out. I just want to go home. I really, really just want to go home. Please god... let me go home...

Go out to eat for two weeks but here is the catch you have to do it alone. Then you will know partly how I feel. There is nothing more awkward than eating alone... it's not so bad once but every night for 2 weeks that's just too much.

So the project is going ok, after a dismal 2nd day. I really like working with the particular staff that the client sent for this project. They are really nice people. They are one of the only reasons this project has been tolerable. The circumstances surrounding this project have been a total disaster. I can't wait until it is all over.

I'm supposed to have the week of Christmas and the week after off when I get back. Hopefully the company doesn't screw me out of those days. I already bought the tickets for my girlfriend to fly up and see me. If they try and take them away I'll be so bullshit. They have flown me back and forth to Luxembourg for the weeks around two of the biggest US holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas). They have already cost me 3 occasions of being able to see my girlfriend. I haven't seen her in 2 months... I don't mind the travel, but they keep making me loose weekend days. By my count I have lost 20 or so weekend days to travel for this company, and haven't gotten any comp days. None... no compensation I get 18 vacation days a year. That means I'm actually getting -2 vacation days this year. Actually I still have 6 days vacation left. which means I will have -8 vacation days this year if they screw me out of those 2 weeks.

The only reason I mention is it seems like it is in the air.

I'm so burnt out and tired. I need to go home... I need to see my girlfriend... I need to be able to touch my own things and sleep in my own bed. If anyone in my family reads this I miss you guys a lot. If my girlfriend reads this, Honey I love you.

Sickness and Construction and The Girlfriend

2006-10-13T07:54:00.000-05:00

ok so I have been sick all week. Nothing so bad to the point where I
can't function. Just mild fevers and chills, with some body aches.
Luckily I don't have any nasal symptoms or congestion. The big pain
is that it slows me down a lot. That and I'm living in a construction
zone is making the everyday stuff just a little bit of a pain.

I hope I'm not still sick when Tori comes up next week. That would be
terrible. I haven't seen her in 2 months. I really don't want to be
sick because I'm probably not going to get to see her for at least
another month after this visit. I would like to be able to go places
and do things with her rather than just be exhausted the entire time.
I only have three days with her.

North Korea

2006-10-12T12:54:00.000-05:00

Anyone else think that the whole issue of North Korea having nukes
could easily spiral out of control. Think about the U. S. response to
this point. They are siding with a very punitive approach. Trying to
coerce the North Korean government to get rid of the nukes by using
bully tactics. North Korean has responded by saying that they would
take counter measures to any sanctions. One news report that I read
said that they stated they would take "physical" counter measures. I
don't know about anyone else but North Korea is one of those entities I believe
would be crazy enough to do something. The other thing is that we
currently have a trigger happy president. I was listening to a
broadcast yesterday on the drive home. He basically said that talk
and negotiation doesn't work with North Korea. I'm paraphrasing, of course.
He wants to take tough measures... Ok I could live with that if it was
a school yard bully but we are talking about an unpredictable, armed
nation. Lets talk first I don't want to glow in the dark...

Waiting for...

2006-10-09T17:53:00.000-05:00

I feel like in the last few months my life has become a montage of me
waiting. Me waiting for a plane, me waiting for a train, waiting for
the clock to say its time to go home, waiting for cabs, waiting for
shuttle buses to bring me to hotels where i wait to go to strange
offices.

i wonder how much of my life I have wasted waiting for my life to
start.... It's depressing. I dont want to be a drone. It seems like
its my lot in life at the moment.

On the bright side of things my girl friend comes up next week. It's
been a while since I have seen her. I'm excited to see her, but I'll
have to wait until next week.

Blogger Mobile

2006-10-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

Ok so I expect that in the next few weeks this site will have a bunch of new posts. I signed up for blogger mobile. It seems pretty interesting so far. You can text your posts to a blog. I guess you can send picture messages too. So I'll probably end up putting a couple of posts up just to play around with it.

Where I've been

2006-10-06T19:13:00.000-05:00

Ok, so if you were wondering where I have been for the last month the answer is Canada. I'll post an update or two in the next few days.

Pictures of Thailand

2006-08-31T07:09:00.000-05:00

Ok So I've been getting really lame about updating this blog. I suppose that it happens to a lot of people with blogs. Life gets in the way. Pesky life getting in the way of my computer addictions.

So here are some old pictures and some newer pictures of thailand. There are a lot of pictures of my aunt's hotels in there. Thailand is a beautiful place.

I really miss my family over in Thailand. They are really great people. There are a lot of family pictures in there too...

Thai pictures

Dec 8, 2000 - 479 Photos