So it's been a little more than a month since I arrived back here in Phoenix.
I've settled comfortably into my new home, despite the fact that it gets insanely warm in my bedroom and no amount of ventilation seems able to drop the temperature to match the rest of the house. I don't spend nearly as much time on the computer as I used to, no doubt evidenced by my distinct lack of updates over the past month. In fact, I don't spend a lot of time at home, period. Between working, going to the gym, and hanging out with people, I'm not here too terribly often. Which is a good thing, I suppose.
On the subject of hanging out with people - Dave, Kate, and myself, along with various other parties that rotate from week to week, have been attending karaoke on Sunday evenings. We typically start out at the Half Moon, throwing back $2 Jack cocktails until 10:00, then relocate to Native New Yorker to sing (and continue drinking) until the wee hours of the morning. It makes for quite the rough morning on Monday, when I have to open the store, but we have so much fun that I'm willing to deal with it. Plus, it allows for some very memorable quotes, such as "I dunno why I'm always twisting bitches' shit up."
Tuesday nights we can usually be found at Native again, this time for 35-cent wings. They don't have the variety of flavors that BW3's has to offer, but what they DO serve is exquisite. Spicy Honey Mustard? Oh, hell yes. Throw in the fact that the place is within walking distance of Casa del Kate-and-Dave, and that they do $3 well drinks every night after 10:00, and it's quickly becoming a favored hangout spot.
Work is also going quite well. After dealing with some personnel issues, I brought Dave into the Game Crazy family, and we've slowly been putting the pieces back together in order to get that store on track. In the month since I took control, we've risen more than 100 spots in the quarterly rankings, and we received an exceptional amount of praise from the Regional Director, who was in town last week to visit stores. In the subsequent letter he sent to our District Manager, he cited us as one of only two stores that he rated as a "9" or better - quite a compliment, especially consider what kind of shape the store was in when I took it over, and how far we had managed to come in only three weeks.
What else?
I, along with Asian Dave and Regular Dave, made the unfortunate mistake of going to see "The Happening" last weekend. If you haven't heard yet, then please, for the sake of yourself and your unborn children, do NOT spend a single cent to see this horrifyingly bad turdfest of a film. Not only is the premise one of the worst fucking ideas ever conceived, everything about the execution just begs the question "What the FUCK was the studio thinking?" Piss-poor acting, awful music, editing mistakes galore (including one scene where Marky Mark almost gets slapped in the face with the boom mic as it drops into the top of the frame like a big dangling cock), and seriously, WORST FUCKING IDEA EVER.
*spit*
I played through "Metal Gear Solid 4" last week. Every glowing review you may have read about this game speaks true - it's a fucking masterpiece. The game is an absolute showcase for the PlayStation 3, boasting some of the best graphics and most detailed texture work ever seen. The voice-over cast is superb, breathing life into each character and making you believe that these are real people with real emotions. And the story (always the most important part of an "MGS" game) is top-notch, bringing together 20 years of twists, turns, and unanswered questions into a brilliantly-spun narrative that leaves no stone unturned and no plot thread unexplored. Rest assured that when the credits finally roll, you'll have a new level of appreciation for interactive storytelling. I'll say it again. A fucking masterpiece.
Not much else to write about. Dave and I will be hitting the Warped Tour next week, covering ourselves in sunblock and drinking copious amounts of water in order to check out a handful of really great bands and a whole lot of really crappy ones. I'm supposed to rendezvous in Yuma with the lovely Morgan sometime next month to visit a historic prison site and have breakfast at Cracker Barrel, but both times we've attempted this feat, one of us has had to cancel. Here's hoping the third time is a charm.
That's all for now, faithful readers.
I've settled comfortably into my new home, despite the fact that it gets insanely warm in my bedroom and no amount of ventilation seems able to drop the temperature to match the rest of the house. I don't spend nearly as much time on the computer as I used to, no doubt evidenced by my distinct lack of updates over the past month. In fact, I don't spend a lot of time at home, period. Between working, going to the gym, and hanging out with people, I'm not here too terribly often. Which is a good thing, I suppose.
On the subject of hanging out with people - Dave, Kate, and myself, along with various other parties that rotate from week to week, have been attending karaoke on Sunday evenings. We typically start out at the Half Moon, throwing back $2 Jack cocktails until 10:00, then relocate to Native New Yorker to sing (and continue drinking) until the wee hours of the morning. It makes for quite the rough morning on Monday, when I have to open the store, but we have so much fun that I'm willing to deal with it. Plus, it allows for some very memorable quotes, such as "I dunno why I'm always twisting bitches' shit up."
Tuesday nights we can usually be found at Native again, this time for 35-cent wings. They don't have the variety of flavors that BW3's has to offer, but what they DO serve is exquisite. Spicy Honey Mustard? Oh, hell yes. Throw in the fact that the place is within walking distance of Casa del Kate-and-Dave, and that they do $3 well drinks every night after 10:00, and it's quickly becoming a favored hangout spot.
Work is also going quite well. After dealing with some personnel issues, I brought Dave into the Game Crazy family, and we've slowly been putting the pieces back together in order to get that store on track. In the month since I took control, we've risen more than 100 spots in the quarterly rankings, and we received an exceptional amount of praise from the Regional Director, who was in town last week to visit stores. In the subsequent letter he sent to our District Manager, he cited us as one of only two stores that he rated as a "9" or better - quite a compliment, especially consider what kind of shape the store was in when I took it over, and how far we had managed to come in only three weeks.
What else?
I, along with Asian Dave and Regular Dave, made the unfortunate mistake of going to see "The Happening" last weekend. If you haven't heard yet, then please, for the sake of yourself and your unborn children, do NOT spend a single cent to see this horrifyingly bad turdfest of a film. Not only is the premise one of the worst fucking ideas ever conceived, everything about the execution just begs the question "What the FUCK was the studio thinking?" Piss-poor acting, awful music, editing mistakes galore (including one scene where Marky Mark almost gets slapped in the face with the boom mic as it drops into the top of the frame like a big dangling cock), and seriously, WORST FUCKING IDEA EVER.
*spit*
I played through "Metal Gear Solid 4" last week. Every glowing review you may have read about this game speaks true - it's a fucking masterpiece. The game is an absolute showcase for the PlayStation 3, boasting some of the best graphics and most detailed texture work ever seen. The voice-over cast is superb, breathing life into each character and making you believe that these are real people with real emotions. And the story (always the most important part of an "MGS" game) is top-notch, bringing together 20 years of twists, turns, and unanswered questions into a brilliantly-spun narrative that leaves no stone unturned and no plot thread unexplored. Rest assured that when the credits finally roll, you'll have a new level of appreciation for interactive storytelling. I'll say it again. A fucking masterpiece.
Not much else to write about. Dave and I will be hitting the Warped Tour next week, covering ourselves in sunblock and drinking copious amounts of water in order to check out a handful of really great bands and a whole lot of really crappy ones. I'm supposed to rendezvous in Yuma with the lovely Morgan sometime next month to visit a historic prison site and have breakfast at Cracker Barrel, but both times we've attempted this feat, one of us has had to cancel. Here's hoping the third time is a charm.
That's all for now, faithful readers.