You’re fired.

Well, not really. But those words may be soon echoing in the Golden State. The next season of The Apprentice is set to be shot in So Cali.

Coolness. That is, if you are into that sort of thing.

Back to my regularly scheduled sandwich. :)

ABC News: Next ‘Apprentice’ to Be Shot in Calif.

So my password expires in 5 days, so I need to come up with something new so my computer doesn’t remind me every time I log in.

But you have to be some sort of mathematical wizard and come up with a complex algorithm in order for the system to be happy. I must have spent at least 5 minutes trying to come up with something the system would take…and it didn’t like any one of my variations. I used uppercase, lowercase, mid-case, special characters, numbers…but no, it didn’t like any of my creations.

I liked the simpler days when I could just come up with a girl’s name and plug it in with some numbers and it would be happy. It worked for the first three months. Maybe it was just grumpy this morning…I have 5 more days to come up with something clever involving some girl. :)

Speaking of passwords, I think these systems at the “W� are funny. For instance, there are like a billon different systems I have to log into each morning to do my job. Well, I exaggerate. Not really a billon. But it feels like it. One system even thinks it’s necessary to ask for my password 3 different times; like it changed from the last time I entered it…5 seconds ago. Funny, funny.

I didn’t intend on writing much, but I’m going to keep going…

It’s definitely starting to feel like Christmas. Last night, they were playing Christmas music over the loudspeaker at Vons and they had all of their Christmas decorations out. I went to get some milk and some cereal, and enjoyed the crispness of the air and the jovial spirit.

Dude, it’s cold. I’m wearing a jacket (again) today and we’ve been utilizing our heater at home. I made some toffee hot chocolate this weekend (a Rachael Ray recipe) and I must say it was quite tasty.

Anyway, I really don’t have anything else of substance to write, so I will cut this off. More later…maybe?

I am continually amazed at the people you find on Myspace. For instance, today, two girls I knew back in junior high and high school found me this afternoon. I have been looking for them ever since graduation; in the back of your mind, you’re always wondering what happens to people after you part ways. These two sisters were always sweet girls…and cute too. And I admit, I had crushes on them back in the day. But it was so cool to hear from them and hear that they were all together for the holidays with their families. Yes, I said families. One of them has three kids now…the other one just had a boy.

Connecting people one person at a time…Myspace is addicting. I set an account up way long ago when it first came out and no one knew what it was. I had absolutely nothing on my page until just recently…when I realized that more and more people were on it, I couldn’t let them see my naked page.

Even people that you’d never think you would find on the internet, you can find on Myspace. It is quite the phenomenon. Even my technologically challenged friends are on Myspace.

So if you haven’t already done so, feel free to check out my Myspace…and add me as a friend for goodness sake. And I promise you, if you haven’t joined the Myspace craze, you will get sucked in. Beware.

I just thought I would share with everyone how good I smell right now.

Dude, I smell really good.

Not that I don’t usually smell good. I partake in a shower here and there. But I am noticing this fantastic aroma right now…and that aroma is me.

I get to leave work in 11 minutes. Woohoo!! My boss is swell. :)

I just heard the sad news that Mr. Noriyuki “Pat” Morita died yesterday. He was 73.

He was my hero in the Karate Kid movies as Mr. Miyagi; a role which earned him an Oscar nomination.

He lived quite a life.

Read the article.

Well I just got home from yet another ride along. This one was supposed to be uneventful, being that the campus is pretty much empty and it’s the day before Thanksgiving. But there was enough to keep us occupied. We just finished up watching Office Space in the dispatch room and eating cheesecake. I swear I’m going to explode…I’ve eaten so much food it’s ridiculous. And I’m supposed to have turkey tomorrow?!

Our night started with a check-the-welfare call. The officers searched this sketchy house for some dude that had been missing. He wasn’t there. But they did manage to find a ton of crap lying all over the place.

Later in the night we did a deuce eval; actually, the dude was still sitting in the station when I left because he didn’t want to cooperate with the breathalyzer test. Sucks for him.

Now, I’ve been on quite a few ride-alongs, but I think the saddest stop for me was when we covered on a traffic stop. Let me preface this by saying that this girl was possibly the hottest girl I have seen in handcuffs in my ride-along career. I’ve watched as officers arrested skeezy hos and 647f chicks…but never have I seen a hot girl so close to being arrested…

It all started at a stop light on College and Montezuma. I looked over at the car next to us and there she was. As soon as I noticed her, another state officer had pulled up behind her and lit her up. I was like, “Aww, he’s pulling over the hot girl!� She looked maybe 19 or 20 which is relatively young, but the stuff we found on her was amazing…expired tags on her car, a suspended license, a warrant, tons of traffic tickets…and that was all before the guys found marijuana in her front console.

At this point, she was in cuffs and her pretty face was in the backseat of a police cruiser. I couldn’t help but stand there and watch as she cried, wondering what kinds of problems she had. I was crying too…mostly because I was trying to check her out and the strobe lights from the police car were blinding me. She was cute…but obviously not too bright. She seemed so normal… yet, you have to be some kind of a screw up to rack up a suspended license…or an arrest warrant for that matter.

With a bit of compassion and a desire to get to Marie Callender’s for dinner, the guys let her go. As we drove away, I glanced at her and saw her standing there on the side of the road with her textbooks and stuff (they were impounding her car), and she was crying on the phone to a friend, asking for a ride. I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. I felt a little sorry for me too. I mean, it obviously wasn’t the time to ask for her phone number.

We had dinner at Marie’s. Meatloaf and taters.

“…and I would do anything for Spuds…�

After dinner, we decided to get some sort of pie or cheesecake for later on…and our waiter, Vladimir, almost ripped us off by trying to sell us a thirty dollar cheesecake. First of all, who would pay thirty bucks for a cheesecake?? That is, unless, it was a really good cheesecake. And made of gold. Second of all, who in their right mind would try to rip off a table of cops? Obviously Vladimir has some balls. But we called him on it and got a slightly smaller one with smashed Oreos, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, which we took back to the dispatch room and endulged in.

It was cool to hang out with the guys and gals in blue. But now I’m going to sleep because I have to wake up for turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Well, seems like other places are starting to crack down and worry about employee productivity. Ever since I started here at the “W,” I discovered their web site blocker really quickly. Places like Myspace, etc. were blocked from our eyes, which were supposed to be busy processing loans. I was okay with that, but just slightly annoyed. Good thing I have friends in high places that could check my comments for me. :)

Well, it turns out that it’s no longer…my pals at You Bock are now suffering the same fate as their web site filters have started blocking Myspace.

What does Corporate America have against Tom anyway?

Well, perhaps it’s a good thing. Myspace is so freaking addicting that it’s probably wise to lay off of it for at least 8-9 hours a day. At least they don’t block my email or my favorite little blog.

Oh, and apparently the circus has come to town. While I was trying to sleep a little longer (five more minutes, Mom…) there was a loud truck pulling up which sounded like it was right outside my window. Then the work and the loud Spanish talking began.

Dudes, what’s the matter with you…it’s 7am?!?

Well, I come to find out that it really is the circus…they were covering our neighbors’ house with a really ugly tent. Fumigators. I guess now’s as good a time as any to get rid of your pests…starting with the two obnoxious dudes pitching a tent.

And, the countdown to smashed potatoes begins. :)

So I have totally been on my game tonight. Last week, my nasal issues restricted my singing abilities, which is oh-so-sad. But tonight…dude. I sound so good! I think I should have been a country singer. Yeah, I know there are a lot of people who hate country…and I don’t yet have the twang…but I think Rascal Flatts would agree that I sounded great in my car. And then at home, when I busted out my guitar, it was like a little bit of perfection. If only there was a girl there to be serenaded, she would have swooned and adored my melodic vocalizations as I rhythmically strummed my guitar.

Oh, but wait. There was a girl. My roommate’s girlfriend was in the other room doing laundry…and I did not realize this. She doesn’t count, though…she’s already taken. But I’m a professional; it’s good to have an audience, no matter who it is.

So I found a check in a pile of old mail. Whoever’s idea it was to send crap to unsuspecting people in hopes of enticing them to buy their product or service or to sign up for their credit card has got to be the dumbest person on earth. Why on earth would I be interested? Just to let you in on a little secret, I don’t even open the envelope…that is, until I run it through the shredder. How sad is it that I can tell what’s inside the envelope without even opening it? So yes, this junk mail piles up like a little mountain of paper and then meets its fate when I get around to shredding it.

But in this pile of crap, I found a check from Union Bank. When I left, they closed one of my employee accounts and wrote me a check for three dollars and fifty seven cents. This was back in September…and I haven’t cashed the check yet. I am contemplating not even worrying about it. I think that this would totally throw off their books and months from now, they will be wondering, “What ever happened to that $3.57?� Yeah, that’s sticking it to The Man.

Or maybe I should cash it. Then I would have money for Starbucks.

Okay, I have to go now. Gilmore Girls awaits…

Well guys, I got my Orange Julius. Wait, hang on a second…

*takes a big sip*

Dammit, that’s good. Anyway, like I was saying, I got my OJ and it is PDT (pretty darn tasty). I hadn’t walked around the Mission Valley mall in a while…lots of changes. Well, Fredericks is in the same spot, but Victoria’s Secret moved across the way next to Fredericks. It’s good to know where all the important stores are. :) They have a new food court, which is pretty great. You walk in and are surrounded by a plethora of food. It’s enough to make one’s head spin. However, difficulties arise when you are unable to decide what kind of food to get. This is why the various eateries have established the practice of samples. They have their people standing out in front of the establishment, toothpicks in hand, just waiting to offer you a bite-sized morsel of their wares, hoping to entice you to eat at their stand. It’s a good sales technique, but I found it odd. I don’t know why, but I just did. But I sat there and enjoyed my humungo soda and my hot pastrami.

Anyway, the day is coming to an end, and so must this post. Lots to do before five rolls around. Who knows, you might be lucky enough to see another post before the night is out. Until then, friends…

After the insane, crazy, and darn-right crappy week last week, it’s nice to know that all my hard work paid off.

During our weekly conference call with sales this morning, I learned that I was the number two producer for the week; and that’s with covering other people’s desks and dealing with messes I was not equipped to handle. I was very surprised. And because I was so busy last week, that means that this week will be relatively easy.

Go me.

My reward is coffee…which is always a good thing. :)

And it’s almost lunch time. Could this day get any better?

Yes, Chandler, it can.

It is official. I’ve made a very important decision. I have decided that I’m going to go to Mission Valley mall for lunch today and have an Orange Julius.

I’m an adult. I can have ice cream for lunch if I want to. So there.

I seriously made record time to work today…I think it was around ten minutes or so, which is unheard of for a Tuesday morning. I think I was doing about ninety on the 8 for a good stretch. It’s nice.

So where ever you went, stay there.

Cingular shipped my new RAZR and I got it yesterday. Hopefully this will solve my voice mail issues and basically hearing people. Did I tell you that? My other phone was randomly cutting off calls and for a while it was splicing calls. In other words, some Mexican chick was cutting in on my conversation. And it wasn’t the Mexican operator either…she was a fast-talking Latina, with issues. But maybe the new phone will actually allow me to talk with people and hear them too…you know, the whole point of having a cell phone. But I haven’t been able to try it because people don’t call me. So sad.

But I discovered that this new v3 has video capabilities. Granted, they are crappy video capabilities…but you can still make little teeny movies. How cool is that? Can anyone say “upgrade?â€? I think I just did.

Well, I’ve stalled long enough…I must get this busy day started. How cool is it that this week is extra short? That’s something to truly be thankful for.

Dude, it was so flipping hot today. What is wrong with this picture: my Reefs, shorts, and a t-shirt in November? Actually, that’s one of the reasons I love San Diego…although it is nice to have weather once in a while. But today was total, crazy beach weather. Gorgeous day.

The day (like yesterday) started early again with a photo shoot up in Alpine. We missed the ideal lighting by a bit, but it was still beautiful. Bright, though. Brian got his workout holding the reflector/light diffuser. Good job, Sir Mounts. After the shoot, we headed back to Casa Aaron and schmoozed over NGS videos. By this time, a half-asleep Danny woke up and joined in the festivities.

Since then, I’ve watched like a hundred episodes of Friends on TBS and done laundry.

Oh, and a word about laundry. I’m sort of methodical when it comes to laundry. I have a process that has been developed over many lonely Friday nights. But seriously, I have a certain way of washing, drying, folding (especially). Well, I had a conversation a few weeks ago about this process and we concurred that fabric softener was better than dryer sheets. I think this is just common knowledge, people. However, dryer sheets are better than nothing at all…and I confirmed this today because I forgot to include a dryer sheet in my load of colors. I will have multiple shocking experiences in the following week as everything fuzzy will stick to me like nails to a magnet.

So what’s on the books tonight? Hmmm…I think I will go to the Flood later this evening and perhaps retouch some of the photos from this morning’s shoot. Other than that, it has been pretty chill…and should remain that way.

Speaking of chill, I created a play list the other day that I’m quite pleased with. I call it my Chill Music. I have many moods of music, like I’m sure everyone does. My many moods tend to influence the music in my head. But so many times, though, I am just wanting to melt into a couch and soak in relaxing, thoughtful, melodic tunes as opposed to everything else I listen to. So i thought it would be fun to share what’s playing on my iPod. It’s still being developed, but I think I’m off too a great start with these. I might make some changes and definitely add to it, but in the meantime, it’s great to fold laundry to or listen to while sitting in the dark. Here it is: Read the rest of this entry »

When I was a kid, I loved Superman. Chris Reeves was the man. I would throw a towel around my back and jump off the stairs…unfortunately, I was never able to fly.

So even though I’m not what you would call a comic book freak, I am really looking forward to this movie.

You can see the site here and check out the teaser trailer.
Superman Returns

I know you are all curious about the burning. I finally had to leave the house because the smell really got to me. Now I see why; it was simply a load of crap that was on fire. Literally.

Here is the story:
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro — Trash station fire sends smoky plumes into air