This sinus thing continues to kick my ass. I’m not happy about this at all. I go to work and deal with everything as though it were normal to have a headache 24 hours a day. I hate it. And I think I’m dangerously close to whining. I hate that too.

I had a heart to heart conversation with the Dish Network People. We decided that I didn’t really watch Showtime and HBO so we would cancel those. We also decided that I deserved a better HD package. Of course, I’d need a new receiver box, for $100.

No deal, says I.
You can get a get a $100 rebate if you commit to 18 months, they counter.
Sold, say I.
Or you could get the really nifty dual tuner box that will let you get true picture in a picture…
Mmmm…
And DVR….
DVR?
For $150…
I’m not so sure.
And you still get $100 back.
Sold.

Sometimes I love being upsold. Isn’t that odd?

To replace the HBO, we’re gonna get Netflix. The only bummer is that they do not have HD for my local channels. But I’m set up for it. If it becomes available… I’ll get it.

And let’s not think about how much money, I’m spending here. This is about the Football. Mostly.

Ravens Camp started this week. Which fills us with thoughts of FOOTBALL. The only good thing about the end of summer is the beginning of football season. I can’t wait.

Super Bowl predictions anyone? (Just off the cuff, I have the Patriots beating the Saints… but I think the Ravens have a good shot at going deep in to the playoffs)

First and foremost, thank you again to each and everyone of you that sponsored me. It really means a lot to me. In theory, the blogathon people will send you an email asking you to fulfill your pledge, but I’ll let you in on a secret. You can go to your profile at blogathon.org and click on edit next to this blog under “Your Pledges.” On that page you can simply push the button that says, “Fulfill this pledge directly with Freedom from Hunger now” and then fill out the Online Donation form at Freedom from Hunger.

I don’t really like to acknowledge it when I’m sick, I always want to think that I can just will it away, mind over matter style. But it doesn’t work that way. I have a sinus infection. And I don’t feel good at all. This made this blogathon much harder for me than it otherwise would have been. The headache that I had during the whole thing tested my patience and made me even grumpier than usual.

There are some aspects to the blogathon that really do irk me. I feel it could be better organized and designed to be much more inclusive to all participants. It also steams me that BE and Lewis get all kinds of plugs when they don’t even raise a cent for charity (at least not that I could see.) There were at least 2 stations involved with this blogathon were playing music and supporting charity.

In the waning moments of the blogathon, I had an epiphany. I am a lousy blogger. Occasionally, people try to swell my head by telling me that I am a good writer. Who knows, maybe I am, but that doesn’t making me a great blogger. I don’t need to be a great blogger, but I had never made that distinction before. The one thing I could do to be a better blogger is to post much more regularly. I’ll try. I’ve had some issues with this blog and I’ve been real tempted to scrap it. But I think I should keep it. I mean it’s over 3 year old, I’d hate to start over.

Who knows, after a good night sleep all this may seem very different to me.

Thank you:

WK
Anonymous (even though I know who you are)
Wickedgal
Debi
Utopia
Sparky
Shutter
imagined-community

I’d like to give special thanks to Mango for thinking of me, when he had every reason to forget.

And finally I’d like to thank Monty for tolerating my neurosis, keeping me company and being a great friend.

Overall this was a pretty good blogathon. I raised money for Freedom from Hunger. I have a bunch of great sponsors. And I had a few friends who kept company and kept me out of trouble.

I can’t say this was a great experience. There were things that could have been better. But I suppose this still isn’t the time or place to get into that.

The big question is will I do it again. I don’t know. Obviously the concept appeals to me. This is my second successful blogathon. But I have reservations.

Fortunately, I have plenty of time to think about it.

And let’s face it, I’m in no condition to make a rational decision right now.

And keeping up my end of the bargain, I just made a pledge for %10 of the total… $30 dollars.

We are just about done.

I’m listening to Tears for Fears.

Just thought I’d share.

Also, beware the Snaeking. I’d like to tell you more… but I can’t.

Don’t worry about it, I stopped making sense an hour ago.

I feel sorry for the people in the real world that will have to deal with me. They will have their hands full.

I think that perhaps I have had one Red Bull too many.

I am listening to Guns an Roses and I keep forgetting what it is I was going to do. This is so 1991 all over again, except I’m so much older.

This thing is winding down and it’s a good thing. I’m sure I could stay awake a few more hours, but my ability to form a coherent sentence, much less type it is getting extremely challenged.

I may have to drink one more Red Bull to get me through.

Thanks to all of those who sponsored my charity, Freedom from Hunger. Kirsten L. Forsyth, from Freedom from Hunger asked me to tell you guys about ‘Freedom from Hunger Day, which will be held on September 28, 2007. This is an online event. You can participate at www.freedomfromhunger.org

Mark it on your calendar.

Mango has donated $60 in honor of his Grandmother, Meta Conway. She passed away this past week.

I know that this has been a difficult week for Mango and I am touched that he has decided to honor her memory is this way.

Hell, I’m as close to speechless as I get.

Thanks, dude. Be well.

Yes I see daylight.

I have the temptation to say cheesy about the light at the end of the tunnel, but I think I should let it go.

I might go for a walk out side.

Hopefully, I’ll remember to put on pants. Ahh, who cares, it’s not like the neighbors like me.

Come on dudes, how about one more sponsor (or two smaller ones) to put me over 300?

It would make my morning.

Those last 2 post were pretty good… all things considered.

Unfortunately, I don’t know if I have anything left.

In retrospect, I should have paced myself. But I got excited and well… the whole thing is kind of embarrassing.

See you in 30.

Back when Mango Radio was the only station that I dealt with, Mango some how found this guy. He had a station of his own. And he wanted some advice from Mango.

Of course, Mango tells me that I have to check this guy out. This guy is rocking out to classic Pink Floyd and proud of it. He asks us if we have any requests. We make a few, but he doesn’t have the songs, until we request some Zepplin and some Floyd. When he played the song, we realized we could hear him breathing. His mic was still on.

He asked us if we wanted to see his dog dance.

Next thing you know, we’re watching some ankle biting dog hopping around on its hind legs on a webcam.

Just when we thought it couldn’t get funnier, his wife walks in to the room. He turns to her, unaware that his mic is on and says, “Honey look, I’ve got professional DJ’s listening to me. They are going to give us some advice. This great. They are professionals from a REAL radio station.”

I had to turn it off…

I remember when I was younger. In college. We’d stay up all night. Me and a girlfriend. We’d talk until the wee hours of the night.

Then we’d go to Denny’s. It was always an odd experience. We seemed to hit the transition from night to day every time.

When we showed up there would be a few drunks and other night owls. We’d get a big breakfast and then chill with some coffee. The tired and bitter night shift waitresses would leave and the young and pretty day shift waitresses would come in.

Before the sun even though of coming up, the business men would come in. One or two of them. Wearing suits and reading the paper.

Everything about them felt different. They had places to be. They were awake. Rested.

We were tired, out of it.

The contrast always seemed very staring to me. I always wondered what those guys in the suits thought of us. A couple of dumb kids with out the sense to go to sleep.

Of course, that is what is going to happen here shortly. The wife and kid will wake up. Fresh and rested. I’ll be here almost functional and spaced out.

I don’t even want to know what they’ll think of me… but I hope they bring breakfast.

Yep… That’s just what I need. A nice healthy snack.

Some people, like my wife, are freaked out by the fact the Yogurt is made up of an active bacteria culture. It doesn’t bother me at all. I eat it all the time. It’s good low calorie snack with protein. What could be better?

Monty played Gwar followed by ‘Rock around the Clock.’ Don’t you think that there should be laws about this kind of thing?

I guess I’ll end up in the chatroom. Not cause I want to, but ought of sheer boredom.

I remember being tired last year, but I don’t remember being bored. I have no idea what this means.

This is lame I’m blogging about my snack. And the worst part is this may be the best post I’ve had in hours.

I did not take a walk.

My eyes are still… tired.

And I thought of nothing to write.

I suck. I’m loser and no one likes me.

Of course, we already knew that. A walk and a snack. That’s what I need.

And a few more sponsors. I know it’s late, but I’d really like to hit $300 in pledges.

I know I’m a loser, but my cause is good.

I will probably stop broadcasting soon. And listen to Monty again. Unless she plays more country music. Then all bets are off.

Can some one remind me how staying up all night helps charity… I’m a little lost on that point right now. Of course, I’m a bit confused and distracted in general.

My posts might be longer if I didn’t have to spend so much time backspacing out typos.

We’ll try again in 30.

This is such a weird time of night.

I feel like I should explain that statement… but I have no explanation.

I guess my mind is just sort of free-associating here, but am I the only guy who feels uncomfortable when another guy uses emoticons when IMing? It’s just me, isn’t it?

I’m a freak, I guess.

I might be hungry. Maybe I should find a small snack.

My eyes are exhausted. I had to lose the shades. I’m back to my regular specs now. I may have to take a walk away from this PC and give my eyes a break.

And think of something to post. Cause I don’t know if I’ve ever been this boring before.

The good news is that my headache is getting better.

Unfortunately, I still can’t think straight. I get easily distracted.

So we can expect that the shit that I’m writing here will make less and less sense as this goes on.

I’ll drink another Red Bull and see what that gets me.

I really wish I had a thought in my head that I could put down here. And I wish I had the concentration to actually type it if I did.

We have a new super hero and not a moment too soon. imagined-community came through with a donation at just the right time. I was beginning to feel like I wasn’t getting to through anyone new.

This is good. Cause I needed some good news.

I’d write more, but somehow my thirty minutes is up… again.

Still grooving with the Dead.

Yeah.

It’s me. That’s not a real surprise.

I’m plucked. About a number of things, But I guess this isn’t the appropriate time or place.

I think that Red Bull was good. But I may need another one.

I’d be happier if more people were coming around.

Or maybe I wouldn’t. Who fucking knows. It is very unfortunate that this sinus infection lined up with the blogathon. I am quite simply no where near my best.

For that I apologize.

We are chilling with The Dead. Let your inner hippie come out and play.

Which is odd, because I didn’t think yo could smell me over the internet.

I guess the idea is that it will wake me up. But I’m not much for quick showers. I think that I’ll just skip it… although it has some appeal.

I think this sinus infection is making this harder than it should be, but that doesn’t really matter.

It’s really hard to bother with these posts, when I know that no one is reading them. Yes, Monty, I know that you are reading… but I could just IM you.

I’m fucking freezing for some reason. And I don’t like it. I’m all bundled up and it’s July.

Would you believe that i haven’t got around to raging yet, I think I keep putting it off cause, I have no idea what I’ll do after that. For now, we’re just chillin’ with some Cat Stevens.

I haven’t got around to the raging yet… don’t worry I have all night.

And I think the coffee isn’t cutting it. I need Red Bull and I need it … well soon.

This 30 minutes has been a waste.

I blame Monty.

Maybe the next post will be better. But I doubt it.

If the power goes out… I guess I’m screwed. There isn’t a window in the geek cave, so I can’t tell how bad it is. But I can hear the thunder over the music.

I’m back on the air. Not that you care. I’m playing a power block of Pop Punk. You know Blink 182, Green Day, that kind of shit.

I keep catching typos. They are pretty bad. I’m very concerned about the ones I’m missing.

It is now tomorrow. Or at least it’s after midnight. It feel much later. I’m not sure why. Probably because almost none of the freaks I talk to online are online.

Rage upcoming on the Mango Radio.

More lame posting in 30 minutes on this blog.

You haven’t seen shit.

As predicted the wife and kid came home and went straight to bed. Which pretty much sucks. I thought we would have an ice cream snack or something. And you know what… I don’t even feeling like fucking with the ice cream by myself.

I’m not having a lot of fun right now. Which also sucks.

As a matter of fact I may have nothing nice to say at all. So I suppose that I shouldn’t say anything at all.

I’m planning to have a full fledged rant on Mango Radio in about a half hour. But you won’t be there. Cause you suck too!

Let’s see if some more coffee improves my mood or intensifies my rage.

I’ve heard rumors…

But I’m not buying it.

My wife claims that her and the kids (at least one of them) are returning. Of course, they probably just go to bed. Losers!

Sleep is for pussies.

Monty is torturing me with country music and Adam Sandler songs. There is no accounting for taste I guess. At least she’s good in bed. (Not that I’d know, but that’s what it said in the men’s room.)

Is then when I’m supposed to post whining comments about how tired I am and how hard this is? Or does that come later. I can’t remember. I’ll just drink more coffee. It won’t be pretty, but it will work.

I’d feel bad about the lameness of these posts, but it’s not ike anyone is reading… so what the hell.

Be proud. Be Shitty!

The coffee taste good… but I don’t now if that will be enough.

I didn’t do a single fucking thing since the last post. I’ve pretty much just sat here and stared at my computer. This isn’t healthy. And it’s a bit dumb.

I’ll have to come up with something to entertain myself. I have some comic books to catch up on. Given the lack of anything else going on, I may just read them. That seems kind of anti social, but I need to do something.

In an hour or two… I’ll do an all out rant on the radio. That will get my blood moving.

See you in thirty.

Yes. I’m brewing pot number 2. I drank most of pot this morning and I think that it is hight time that I drink some more.

At this point in my life, I have abandoned most of my vices. All I have left is Coffee and Swearing. And I do plenty of both.

I’m stilling hanging out in this chatroom. It’s odd. Somehow all chatrooms seem the same. The people are saying the same stupid shit.

I don’t think that I’m cut out for chat rooms. Besides, there are so 1997.

So since the chatroom isn’t entertaining me, I’ll need to find something else to entertain me. Soon I’ll have to resort to the porn. Or something.

I’m sitting here, with my shades on. I’m in the MPYR radio chatroom. I fucking hate chatrooms. They fill me with rage. Even more than normal.

Shutter is our most recent Super Hero.
Without babbling on like a little girl, this one means a lot to me. Thanks, dude.

I’m getting tired. I’ll blame this sinus infection. Staying up usually isn’t a problem for me. I guess I have no choice but to make some coffee.

I love coffee. I guess I wouldn’t be so bored if people were visiting. But as I’ve said before, I’m not one of the cool kids. Just my destiny, I suppose.

That’s ok, I’ll just keep posting. The 2 or 3 of you that are reading, will keep reading. And later, in the wee hours of the morning, I’ll rage to no one on SBR about how the rest of you suck.

Have a nice day.

Instead of taking a break and walking round, going outside, doing anything… I’ve been sitting here IMing with Shutter about what I missed at work on Friday. Does this mean I have a problem?

At least Monty is Playing Duran Duran. I Like Duran Duran. And Rocky Horror Picture Show songs!

Soon, I’ll have to put my shades on. I don’t know why, but I do that every Thursday Night, when I do Shitty Blog Radio. It’s just a geek thing, I guess.

I think I need to find some thing to keep me occupied. I’m bored to tears.

I feel like now would be an appropriate time to wow you into sponsoring me. But I don’t know how much ‘wow’ I have in me. And I’m not just saying that because my ass has been planted in front of this PC for 12 hours.

I’m just not a ‘ wow’ kind of guy.

Here are the facts:

I’m blogging for Freedom from Hunger.
They are great Charity Dedicated to end hunger worldwide.
I will match 10% of the total pledge amount.
I am, by nature, an angry bitter son of a bitch. Yet I am doing this thing.
If you want to pledge, click the shiny blue button.

At 9:00 PM, I’m turning off my stream for a bit. I’m gonna listen to my friend Monty. But don’t worry I’ll broadcast some more later.

So I decided on a block of Floyd. Since my only listener doesn’t get the difference between real Floyd and new Floyd. We consider this to be educational programming. Besides the Floyd makes me happy.

I’ve got this Red Bull in front of me still, but I’m trying to hold off on drinking it…

Never mind. I drank it.

I have no idea what the fuck I am going to post about now. So this could get ugly. Or boring. Or just plain lame.

I can hear what you are thinking… (Lame… How can I will the difference?)

Very funny.

Don’t look now… I think I got a second listener.

I may have to resort to watching TV and telling you about. Or should I read comic books to you?

As I was saying, I found myself in charge (if not officially) of setting up an Exchange Server and getting my department using Exchange/Outlook without fucking up the existing Groupwise environment.

This is exactly the kind of thing I got into this industry to do. And I’m good at it. Not just the technical parts either. There is another side to these things. I had to get this group of engineers to do what I, a lowly tech, wanted them to do.

I did what I do well, I listened to them, heard there concerns and wants. I put together a plan that took those things into consideration. That part went perfect.

I’d love to tell you that the technical part was flawless, but it wasn’t. There were snafus and things that I hadn’t anticipated. But nothing that set the project back. I was able to make all work.

While this was happening, other things were changing. Our CIO shook up our pay scale and our Org Chart. He made it so he could promote people with out waiting for people to die. One of the people he promoted with this change was me. It went into effect with FY08 (July 1,) but I knew it was coming almost 2 months ahead of that. There was also an extremely healthy raise that went with that.

The only thing I can complain about is I never got to confront my boss. And I had planned the whole thing out.

And now you are all caught up.

So should I play a block of Floyd or a block of Green Day?

I’m still picking at my dinner here. I’ll get back to my narrative about the job. We’ve got all night.

In the mean time, if any of you are in Oklahoma, please call 911. Monty has just eaten something called a Chocolate Fried Pie. It makes my freezer Burrito sound like health food. I’m guessing it will give her a heart attack. It’s probably wise to have the paramedics on hand just in case.

I have sitting in front of me SF Red Bull #2. I’ll drink it soon.

In other news, my feet are cold. Have no fear, I got some wools socks to warm them up.

I think I’m bored. I think I need to play a block of Ska soon.

We are going to wait a bit to pick up the very interesting story of my job. Ok, it’s not that interesting. I can’t help it. I’m boring.

I’m having dinner now. Freezer burritos and taquito, with salsa and sour cream. Total bachelor dinner.

While I’m eating, let’s thank Sparky for becoming the latest super hero to sponsor me during this blogathon.

What super hero would you be?

As I was saying, I was ready to demand a promotion (or at least an increase in the level of my responsibilities) or find a new job.

Before I got a chance to confront my boss, things started to change. The changes were gradual, and I didn’t recognize them at first. I became more involved with the AD migration. You have to understand that there isn’t an actual migration at this point. It’s more of a discussion of a migration. Most of the time it is bogged down with management and how its going to happen and how much it will cost.

But I was more involved in the Administration of the backbone AD infrastructure that exists. In April, opportunity knocked and leaped to answer the door. Our CIO, my boss’s boss, decided migration or not, he wanted to use Outlook for his email instead of Groupwise. And he wanted it right now.

My boss dropped this bomb on the engineers and they reacted predictably. They started listing reasons why it wouldn’t work and pointing out problems with the idea. I said, I don’t think that this is going to be that difficult.

A couple informal meetings later, I was unofficially in charge of this project. This was exactly the kind of opportunity that I had been looking for

To be continued…

I haven’t blogged about anything but blogathon or backpacking for a long time it seems.

So I’ll update you on the other shit that’s been going on. Or at least some of it.

A number of months ago, in November or December, it occurred to me that my job was falling into a rut. I was hired as a Network Technician. Meaning that I provided second tier onsite support. (That didn’t really clear it up, did it?) If you worked in the same company as me, and you put in help desk call, and the monkeys at the help desk couldn’t fix it remotely, the call would get routed to me. It’s not a bad job. I got to drive around and fix stuff. The users loved me cause they knew I would take care of them.

But I was overqualified for this. The engineers meanwhile, were planning a migration to Active Directories. This happens to be my area of expertise. They would hit me up for ideas and shit, but since I had to be out onsite, it left me out of the loop.

I decided that something needed to give. I understood that politics of our bureaucracy didn’t really give much of a chance to get promoted. For that to happen, one of the existing engineers would have to quit or die. I planned to demand of boss, during my review in the spring, that she, if not promote me, let me take on Network Engineering duties. If there wasn’t more money for me, I could live with that, but I needed to have my skills put to use.

And if that didn’t work out, I was prepared to start looking for a new job.

To be continued…

I can’t even begin to describe to you what just happened to me.

It just wouldn’t make sense.

Here’s what you need to know.

It sucked. It’s a good thing that there is no one else home. I’ll survive, but it’s not going to improve my mood.

On the positive side, I’m enjoying a power block of Three Dog Night right now. And yes, I do take requests. IM me (jeckles1@Y!.) Email me (jeckles@gmail.com) or even call me (206-339-9147) and leave a message.

What the fuck am I going to do about dinner.

… having a blog no one reads.

Okay, okay. A few people read the blog. Fewer yet listen to the radio show. Which begs the question, why bother?

I’m being serious here. Why should I even bother. I bet that the half dozen people who have sponsored me would donate the money, if I just asked.

Which makes me wonder what the point of being part of this whole thing is.

I’ll be adding a button to link to listen to this radio nonsense to the rest of my posts. I’m sure you’ll ignore it.

I guess I’m feeling sorry for myself, a bit, but it bugs me.

Also I don’t know what the fuck to write about right now.
It’s too early to be this lame.

It’s times like these that I wish I didn’t blog anonymously. I could raise so much more money if I approached my friends and family with this. But I can’t do that.

Most of them don’t even know that I blog. I don’t even want to think what it would be like if they knew about it at work.

It wouldn’t be pretty. I hear them make comments sometimes.

“God, she is such a freak. I bet she’ll go home and blog about this.” And then they’ll all laugh. And I laugh too. I don’t need them to know that I do this.

If they knew, they’d start reading into everything I write about work. I’d blog about using a sick day for a ‘metal health day,’ and I have my boss call me into her office.

It would be bad. I just know it. So I’m a closet blogger. It’s best this way.

I know that plenty of bloggers are very open about the fact that they blog, I don’t understand how that works for them.

Just one more thing to hate about blogging.

For the record, I think my monitor hates me.

Yes. You missed a block of Disco and Rage on Shitty Blogathon Radio. I know you don’t care. I don’t care that you don’t care. So there.

Mango was there. He eggs me on, you know. He tries to get me to do bad things. Very bad.

I think I have been in front of the PC too long. I mean I’m used to being in front of a computer, but this is relentless. At least I work, I get interrupted with meetings and phone calls and Shutter. All I have here is Geek Blog, Misfitopia, IM and Shitty Radio. It may be making me a bit crazy.

Mango informs me that CBS is broadcasting an XBox360 GuitarHero Championship. This is fucking retarded. Do I really need to elaborate.

Mango is going back to whatever it is that he is doing in Buffalo. So I’ll be back to being kind of alone. Again. He says he’ll be back in the middle of the night. I’ll play Enya and GnR to celebrate.

And maybe some ‘All Along the Watchtower.’

What was it that Tyler Durden said about ‘the Happy Place?’ You know… when he was giving the narrator a chemical burn?

Nevermind.

I lost a post. Temporarily. I found it again. (It was the time stamp thing. It’s fucking with me.) For the brief time it was gone, I though I had lost what was left of my fragile mind.

Also, Thank you Utopia!

Thanks, for not killing me. Cause we all have a healthy fear respect of your mad scientist skills. Also thanks for the pledge. YOU ARE A WINNER!

I saw that one of Mike Vick’s co-defendants is going to cop a plea. This doesn’t look good for Vick. To add insult to injury it looks like Nike is going to severe their ties with him. They didn’t do that to Kobe. This is going to get ugly. Which is good, cause I was out of Paris Hilton news.

The Ravens report to training camp in just over 24 hours. I can’t wait.

I can’t believe it is after 3:00 PM. I seem to be unable to keep track of what’s going on. I’ll blame Mango for no discernible reason.

This just in… this post sucks. Hell, this blog sucks.

And that’s OK, I didn’t really want suggestions for Shitty Blog Survivor tasks… (Yes I did. That was sarcasm.)

At least the Red Bull was tasty.

I think I need to find my happy place.

I suppose that this means we are over a quarter of the way through this. That’s something.

I have no idea what to write about.

I could tell about you about how I got banned from Blog Explosion.
Or how fucked up the Radio situation was last year.

But that stuff will only get me in more trouble than I already am.

I could tell you about Shitty Blog Survivor. Yes that’s what I should do.

I have this club. The Shitty Blogs Club. It’s kind of like a joke, except it’s a real club. It’s difficult to explain. Every year we play Survivor. Like the TV show.

Except that I have never seen the TV show, so maybe it is way different.

We start with say 10 or 12 bloggers. They are all given a stupid task to perform by a set deadline. Like ‘Carve a Watermelon like you would a Pumpkin’ or ‘Dress Up in 40 different Items of Clothes’ or ‘Compose and Sing a Song about Survivor Island.’ You get the idea.

Actually, you could help me. There are currently 3 Survivors left on Shitty Blog Isle and I owe them a task. I have no idea what to give them.

Any Suggestions?

Did I tell you that I’m going to a concert?

I’m too old to go to concerts really. And I’m not willing to spend the $500 that it costs to see U2 or the Stones these days. But I heard that Ratdog is touring again. A quick search on the web told me that they would have a show in driving distance of where I live.

A long drive, but still.

They will be playing in some amphitheater in the Poconos. Capt. Shutter and I will be making a road trip of it. We’ll drive, get a camping site, and then head to the concert…

What’s that? You don’t know who Ratdog is? That’s ok, most people don’t. It Bob Weir’s band. You know, Bob Weir the rhythm guitarist from the Grateful dead. After Jerry Garcia died and the Dead were no more, one Weir’s side projects evolved into Ratdog.

I saw them in 1996 at the Further Festival in Va Beach. It was awesome.

It will be great. We’ll go hang out with the Dead Heads and watch a great show. The Allman Brothers will be playing too. It should be a great show. And then we’ll head back to the camp ground and chill.

You must be jealous. You should be. This will be the first concert I’ve been to in ten years. And at least I won’t have to worry about feeling old. I’m guessing the median age there will be north of 50.

It’s for a good cause…
It’s for a good cause…
It’s for a good cause…

I might cry if no one else sponsors me during this thing. I realize that this would make me a big pussy, but it is what it is.

In my refrigerator, there are four Sugar Free Red Bulls. I think it will soon be time to help my self to one of those.

I also think that my plan to write quality posts is getting shot to hell.

Look at this post for example. It sucks.

If I were a daddy blogger, then I could just post cutesy pictures of my kids. Which they would find when they were older and resent me forever. Well… resent me more.

So this is all about charity, right? And that’s more than jsut money, am I right? It’s about action and practicing what you preach.

You want to do some good today? Really good? Go over to Mango’s blog. And say something nice. He deserves it. No one should have to go through what he has the past few days (even though most of have or will.) I’m serious, I’m talking about a guy who is dealing with loss and all that comes with it, and he sends me an email apologizing that he can’t be around for the blogathon. Please.

So go do that. It won’t cost you a cent. And it might make you feel good.

So if you hate this… it’s only going to get worse.

For lunch: 3 hot dogs, with Yellow Mustard and Dill relish; some tortilla chips and a Diet Mountain Dew.

Excuse me a moment while I chew.

OK. Yellow Mustard and Dill Relish. It’s the only way to go. I’ll never understand why everyone wants to use sweet relish. Almost everyone likes Dill Pickles. Why not dill relish? I go to the store and there is like an entire section dedicated to relish, but only like 3 jars of dill relish. The Fuck?

I know. You don’t care. But I’m eating the hot dogs and that is what is on my mind.

To think I promised to fill you in on the boring fucking details of my life, and all you get is me babbling about lunch. I can’t help it, lunch is important to me. And just think later when I get around to talking about my boring life, it will actually seem interesting in comparison.

While, I’m babbling about lunch, I’ll get this off my chest. People make fun of me for drinking a diet soda with a less that healthy meal. Why? Cause it would make more sense to pile 140 empty calories on top of my 3 hot dogs. I always drink diet soda. although I don’t drink much soda in general. I’m a coffee and water kind of guys, with a nasty Red Bull habit. Sugar Free Red Bull that is.

I hope you enjoyed lunch as much as I did. And no mustard stains, thank you very much.

Like most days…

It’s lunch time and I am filled with rage. Don’t ask. It just seems to work that way. Maybe it’s techno music I’m listening to. Wanna listen. Go to SBR and click on one of the links on the sidebar. To the best of knowledge, they work.

I’ve get left over hot dogs on the menu. Who wants to figure out the over/under on me spilling mustard on me. It’s pathetic. I know.

To expand on the point that i was failing to make earlier. All I’ve wanted to do was to be popular. In high school and college that would have never happened. It’s not likely to happen at work. But, You would think… at least I would, that on the Internet, I’d have a chance.

The playing field should leveled. Looks don’t matter. Background doesn’t matter. Yet, the blogosphere (and elsewhere on the ‘net) makes its own cliques. I hate it.

Wanna know what else sucks? I really though it would take long for me to be reduced to rambling, babbling.

I’ll babble some more after lunch.

I was so plucked that I didn’t even get the “Sponsor this Blog’ button up last time.

God, I suck.

And If I don’t figure out how to get some lunch soon, I’m screwed. I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point I started getting very regimented on when I eat. Which is good, I suppose… but when I get off schedule, it fucks wit me a lot. You know… like right now.

Did I mention I hate blogging.

I’m not sure why I don’t just write. For myself. On my computer and leave it there. It would eliminate a lot of my frustration. It’s my own… insecurity… need for affirmation… something that makes me blog. I could write and save it to the hard drive. But I would never know if you got it. I wouldn’t know if I had got my point across.

But by the same token, I have always felt like there is some huge blogging community out there. And I am some where outside of it.

I know. I know.

It’s my own fault. I don’t play the GAME. Hell, I don’t even understand the game, nor do I want to. Most of the time this shit doesn’t bother me at all. I just do my thing. I have my few, but extremely loyal groupies readers. But sometimes, like when those stupid awards come out or during this blogathon, it begins to get to me.

I read other blogs and it sounds like they are all blogging this thing together. I feel like I’m sitting here at my computer, alone, blogging. Do the rest of them have a better imagination than I do? Are they IMing back and forth between posts. Calling each other on the phone?

I don’t know. This is probably my tendency to be extremely literal giving me a hard time again.

Yes. It is hard to be me. No. I do not expect you to feel the slightest bit sorry from me. Yes. I do expect some of you to mock me derisively.

Did you ever feel like you were trying to make point, but had no idea what the hell it was? No? Must just be me and my aneurysm .

Thank you. You’re too kind. I’ll be here all fucking day, don’t forget to tip.

Am I bit plucked….

Yes I am.

Of course, I’ll just be told that I’m not a good sport. Not a team player. You would think that I would be used to that by now.

I apologize that this isn’t a very good post. I don’t have a lot of time to put this together.

Instead of writing during the last 30 minutes, I’ve been fucking with my template. My template that has been perfectly good for over a year now (including last year’s blogathon.) I’ve added a time stamp.

That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be so bad. But then I discovered that blogsome doesn’t change for daylight savings time automatically. So the first six posts were an hour early. I had to change my time to reflect DST and then I had to update the time stamps on each of those posts.

Fucking great.

I certainly hope it helps a lot. A whole lot.

And now my head ache has gone into overdrive. Excuse me while I go find some coffee… and Advil.

That would be the flaw with not having a plan for the day.

Just two hours in and I have no idea what the fuck I am going to write about. Go me!

The wife and kids are going to pack up soon and leave me here chained to my computer. It’s probably for the best.

It’s not like I’m any kind of company right now.

I’m not a good writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I for whatever reason, I keep doing it. I don’t think I could ever do it on a deadline. This makes me a little bit nuts.

Ironically, or maybe it’s not as ironic as I think it is, I work better on a deadline. Go figure.

I’ve been a really shitty blogger the last few months, not a Shitty Blogger, but just plain shitty.

I suppose, I could spend the next few hours writing about what has been going on with me, since I’ve neglected to blog about it. Of course, those who listen to SBR already know most of this shit.

My head hurts again. I hope it’s lunch time soon.

As I was saying…

There is plenty of food, more than enough.

I truly believe that there is enough food out there to prevent chronic hunger forever. It’s just not all in the right place.

We can fix this. (No smartass, I don’t want you to mail that left over piece of pizza to Africa.) A relatively small amount of money can help not only feed people who are starving, but help to education them on how to manage finance and improve infrastructure.

And if it is possible to fix this, and I believe it is, then we must do this. How can it be that there are people starving, when it can be fixed?

So I picked Freedom from Hunger for my charity. They believe, as I do, that hunger can be eliminated.

Hey, you can help too! Five dollars can make a difference. $25 is huge! And $100 would be AWESOME! You want to be awesome, don’t you?

And I’m putting my money where my mouth is. I’m matching 10% of the total pledges. I want to get up to $500 in pledges before this is done. I know it is unlikely, but I would love nothing more than to have to shell out $100 to match a $1000 in pledges.

I’ll be back in 30 minutes. Hell… I’ll be here all day.

Do you ever wonder how people come to choose a charity to get behind? I mean not just blogathon either. How do celebrities end up sponsoring this charity or that charity? I guess they have people for that. People who go find charities that match their interests (and will best serve their PR people.)

I, believe it or not, don’t have people. Yet I still had to pick a charity. For me, this wasn’t easy. I am passionate about many things and there are dozens of charities that address these things. How to narrow it down to one that I am willing to give up a day of my life for. How to pick one that I am willing to ask friends and strangers to support?

It wasn’t easy. But I think that one of the things that upsets me the most is this: I live in a country that thrives on excess. Super-sized fast food, big-fucking-sodas at the convenience store. And Junk Food. Everywhere I look, there is food and too much of it. More than we really need. And that’s fine I guess.

But here’s the rub, if we have so much extra, how is it that anyone, anywhere is starving?

I think this thought is bigger than the time I have… I’ll finish it in the next post!

I am always amazed when I read about people’s plans for the Blogathon. Some of them throw parties or watch movies. Some of them set a theme for their posts or have contests.

Not surprisingly, I’m not doing any that shit. It’s not that I don’t approve. (OK maybe I don’t, but that’s not why.) It’s that typically when I blog it takes me almost 30 minutes, sometimes longer, to put my posts together. I guess my posts are longer than average and it doesn’t help that I can’t really type. But the real problem is that I simply think too much about it. It’s just the way I am.

The really sad part is that for all the time and effort, this is the end result.

So my plan is simple. I will sit here and write 49 posts over 24 hours. I will try to give each post the attention that I would to any ‘regular’ post. (In other words, I will do my best not to give you the “Wow I still 12 hours to go.” post.)

Honestly, I’m not criticizing anyone else’s effort here. It is just my goal, again, to remain consistent to my style of blogging. It seems like the least I can do for my Charity.

In addition to blogging, I’ll do the radio thing, but that won’t take much effort. And I’ll drink coffee. And Sugar-Free Red Bull.

Man I suck at this.

I might as well get this out of the way early.

I feel like shit. I’ve got a sinus infection and a brutal headache to go with it. And that would be quite enough, but it’s not all. My stomach seems to be upset too. And I guess this ventures into that TMI place that bloggers love to go. But it’s not making it easy to planted in front of this computer for 24 hours.

But I will. Because I’m more stubborn than I am grumpy.

And while I’m complaining, I should probably mention now that I hate blogging. Yes, I do realize that is a contradiction. And no I can’t explain it. I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, to explain this contradiction over the course of three years of blogging. I don’t expect that I’ll have any better luck in the next 24 hours.

Also. Why is it always a beautiful day when we do blogathon. Maybe we should consider doing this in January.

Did I mention that I have a headache…

On a completely different note, if anyone does listen to “radio” thing, you should that I take requests and have over 20,000 songs to choose from. Let me know if you want to hear something. The best way to reach is me is jeckles1 @ Y! Messenger. If you don’t IM I still do email: jeckles at gmail dot com.

Most of the readers that will cross this space today, don’t know me. (I’m not one of the popular kids.) So I guess maybe I should start by telling you a little about me.

I’m a 35 year old Network Engineer by trade. I’m into Sci Fi, Comic Books and music.

And I’m a bit grumpy. (Okay more than a bit, but I don’t want to scare any one off.)

Once again, I’m blogging for Freedom from Hunger in this blogathon. Sponsor me. It will make you feel good. On every post I’ll have a convenient button to make it easy sponsor me. IN addition, at the end of this thing, I will pledge 10% of the total amount of pledges that I have.

During the duration of the blogathon, I will be broadcasting on Mango Radio. Nothing special, just sharing the music that I’m listening to to keep me going. If you want to listen use one of these links: Winamp, WMP, RealPlayer Quicktime.

I guess that will do for now. There is no rush, we have all day and all night together.

I did two things today that I rarely do.

I called out of work. And I went to the doctor.

This headache hasn’t really gone away since Tuesday night. It would get less bad. I mean it would still hurt, but I could go about my business. Every once in a while it would become so intense that I wasn’t able to do anything but close my eyes and hope it got better.

It was like that when I went to bed last night. It wasn’t much better when I woke up. I called out of work and had Mrs. Jeckles make a doctor’s appointment.

I hate going to the doctor. I absolutely hate it. I’ve been known to say things like, “I think it’s just a mild case of strep throat, I think I’ll be fine.” Or, “It’s just a sprained ankle, I’ll have to keep my weight of it, but I’ll take it easy for a few weeks and see a doctor if it gets worse.”

But this headache was bad. The pain was bad enough. I have an extremely high threshold for pain, but this was too much for me. Advil didn’t have much of an effect. Like I said, the pain would vary in intensity, but it never really went away.

So I headed to the doctor, fully prepared to get bad news.

“Mr. Jeckles, it’s an aneurysm in your brain. You have 6 months to live.”

Or even worse:

“Mr Jeckles, it looks like you are having chronic headaches brought on by excessive caffeine use. You’ll be fine as long as you never have caffeine again.”

Needless to say, I was apprehensive.

Have no fear. It seems that I have a sinus infection. I’ve got antibiotics and hopefully as this improves, the headache will subside. Of course, if it doesn’t… we’ll do a CAT scan.

Staying up for 24 hours of blogathon with a pounding headache isn’t my idea of a good time. But it is my destiny, I fear.

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me. And if you have not…

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

You can sponsor me up until the end of the blogathon (and if I remember correctly perhaps a little later.)

And remember I’ll match 10% of the total pledge amount.

See you tomorrow. All day and all night. Stop and say hi.

In just a few days, I will be participating in the Blogathon.

Please help sponsor me to help fight Hunger.

Why?

Because it’s a good cause.
Because you want to make grumpy old me smile.
Because you live in a part of the world where people throw away more food in a day than some families get a week.
Because you didn’t know what to do with that 5, 10, 20 dollar bill folded up in your pocket.
Because you want to be a super hero too.
Because all the cool kids are doing it.
Because you want to help.

Seriously. Freedom from Hunger provides resources to 3.5 million people world wide. They focus their efforts on areas where the people suffer from chronic hunger. Can you imagine? Chronic Hunger? They help families in places like Ghana, India, Bolivia, Senegal, and Haiti. They provide Education, Assist families in obtaining Healthcare and help them learn how to sustain themselves.

Now really, don’t you have a few bucks to spare to help them out?

I’ll even pitch in. I’ll match 10% of the total pledges received.

Think about it. You can pledge any time between now and the end of the blogathon.

Thanks.

The wife and I… Well OK, just the wife.. but the first way sounded better. This doesn’t make any sense. Let’s start over.

My wife was going over the bills and stuff. She discovered that our Citibank Card had like a gazillion ‘Thank You’ points on it. With our points we ‘purchased’ a waffle iron, a quesadilla maker, a toaster oven/toaster combo, a movie and an iPod shuffle. Not too shabby.

Even though I already have the 30 gig iPod, I am psyched about the Shuffle. It is perfect for the gym. The best part of all… we ordered this stuff on Thursday and the Waffle Iron and the Shuffle showed up today.

I had been considering skipping the gym today, I feel run down. I mean really run down. But I decided that I wanted the Shuffle for the gym, so I owed it to myself to give it a real test drive.

After synching the Shuffle, I headed over to the ole gym and stepped up on the treadmill. I turned on the Shuffle and it worked like a champ. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for me. Not surprisingly, I wasn’t able to run for shit. I was winded, tired and my knee was swollen. I was off the treadmill after walking just five minutes and running less than three.

I figured the whole thing didn’t need to be a loss, so I headed over to the machines to lift. I sat down at the chest press machine. When I lift (no free weights for me… just the machines…) I lift till failure. In other words, I try to lift 3 set of 15 reps at a given weight, but I full expect to fail at some point. If I actually complete all 3 sets, I know that I need to increase my weight for next week. Last week, I had nearly completed all three sets, so this week I increased my weight. I knocked out the first fifteen with out any real trouble. I drank some water and after a short rest started the second set. Normally, the first week I am at a new weight, I don’t get far on my second and third sets, but this week I was doing great.

10, 11, 12, 13. Just one more. I pushed. It didn’t want to go. I closed my eyes and exhaled all the air from lungs as I pushed hard. It started to budge and then slowly I was able to extend my arms for that full 14th rep. As I let the hand grips fall back into the rest position, I realized that I was holding breath. I inhaled deeply.

The back of my skull erupted into pain. I drank some of my water, but the pain was unrelenting. The hell with the third set, I thought. I went to the water fountain and refilled my water. I went to try a few sets of flies on the ‘pec-deck,’ but my head was screaming and I felt weak as shit.

I decided to cut my losses and head home. After I ate, the headache started to fade and I began to get some strength back. But honestly, that scared the fuck out of me.

The Blogathon is on Saturday.

I’ll be up for 24 hours, posting a new original blog post every 30 minutes during that time. I’m doing this to raise money for Freedom from Hunger. They are a great charity and I’ll be telling you more about them as the blogathon gets closer.

You can help. You can sponsor me. No donation is too small. And to encourage you a bit, I’m not only investing my time into this, I’ll put my money where my mouth is. I’ll match 10% of the total pledges. In other words, If I raise $500 dollars, I’ll add $50 of my own cash to the total. If the total would get to $1000 (if only we could do so well…) I’d contribute $100.

But wait… there’s more!

To entertain myself during this blogathon, I’ll be listening to music the whole time. I’ll share what I’m listening to (and perhaps even entertain requests) on Mango Radio during the most (if not all) of the blogathon. Maybe I’ll even rant a little. Jeckles on no sleep and loaded with caffeine… I’ll probably rant a lot.

Do your part! Sponsor me.

Or I may do something drastic!

To the best of my knowledge, today is Tuesday. Which is wierd, cause I could’ve sworn that yesterday was Tuesday.

This isn’t going to get any better. I’m taking a four day weekend starting Friday. It will be August before I know what day of the week it is again.

I can’t keep a coherent thought in my head, so you are stuck with more of these stupid Random Thoughts.

Microsoft is revamping their Certifications. For Windows Server 2008 they will not be offering a MCSE Cert. Instead, it will be some Combination of Tech Specialist Certs. I do not feeling like laerning a whole new Certification path. Yet, I do want to have a current cert. A lot of people are unimpressed with MCSEs. I guess there have been too many asshats who have read enough books and memorized enough Cheat Sheets Practice Tests, that there is a population of MSCE that wouldn’t know DNS from DHCP. (Trust me, I just made a funny.) I’d like to upgrade, but it is unlikely that my job will pay for it. And I’m not sure if I want to drop a grand or so on a course to get me up to date. I guess I don’t even have to worry about it yet, Server 2008 isn’t even out yet.

I have a memory card full of photos. Some them good. At least one of them great. But I still haven’t bothered to get them inside of my computer.

I have, however, managed to grow my music collection to over 21000 songs. That’s almost 68 days worth of music, according to iTunes.

I may be set up a web page soon. And not another stupid blog either. And e-commerce thing for my brother. Could be cool.

I think I am going to see 1408 tonight. I’ve heard mixed things about it. Maybe we’ll just stick with Harry Potter.

Did I mention that my Brother-in-law want to do a stupid radio show of his own. I’ll have to make sure he keeps it a secret from my mom.

I got an anonymous pledge of $5 yesterday. This rocks. Every dollar counts. You too could pledge $5 or $50. I’ll tell you what I’ll do (and this will get me in trouble with the wife for sure,) I’ll match 10% of the pledges I receive. Right now, I have $150 pledged. So I’ll be in for $15. If it gets up to $500, I’ll pledge $50. You get the picture.

Sponsor me. You know you want to. It’s for a good cause.

And now I go back to work, to finish my Wednesday Tuesday.