fast food rage!

It got to be after 11:00 tonight and I hadn't eaten any dinner yet. That was too late for me to feel like cooking something, and I had to take a movie back to Blockbuster anyway, so I figured I'd stop at McDonald's while I was out there. So I did. It was closed. "Well crap," I said. But fine, I guess I just picked the reject McDonald's that closes early. So I head for the other McDonald's I know of, except I go the wrong way on the highway (big surprise there). Luckily, the next exit has a McDonald's anyway, so I go there. And IT'S CLOSED TOO! Now I'm pissed. It's SATURDAY, at 11:30 in Raleigh, NC. All I want is one goddamn double quarter pounder with cheese and NO ONE WILL GIVE IT TO ME! By then it was midnight. I finally went to the one I meant to go to after the first one was closed, and it was open. My THIRD McDonald's, and it's open. 11:30 ON A SATURDAY, and ONE out of THREE McDonald's is open. And just to put a little extra frost on my balls, not only was this one open, it was open 24 hours. So apparently around here McDonald's either closes at 7:30 PM when grandma goes to bed, or they're open even damned second of the day. Keep that in mind when you're in Raleigh at 11:30 on a Saturday and you want a f-ing McDonald's sandwich. I'm so mad I wrote this rant before I even ate my stupid sandwich. I bet it won't even taste good. They probably gave me chicken mcnuggets by mistake. Goodnight.

EDIT: I got a single quarter pounder with cheese in a double quarter pounder box, and got charged for a double. I want to set everyone on fire.

i am a waste of space

<---- me.....except that's a cat, and i'm a person.

I'm sitting here by myself on the couch on a Saturday, and I'm realizing, as I often do, what a giant waste of space I am. Granted, weekends are meant for relaxing. Since I spend so many of my weekends traveling up to Maryland, or spending time with Meg when she comes down to Raleigh, it's nice to have a quiet weekend once in a while when I don't have to do anything. The problem is that I actually don't do anything. I always tell myself I'm going to be productive and get some things accomplished that I never have time to work on during the week or over the non-free weekends, but it never happens. Part of it is that I'm just a typical lazy American. Nothing I can do about that. I'm wired to be lazy, and I'll use that bad excuse until the day I die. But there's more to it that I can't quite put my finger on. Begin unnecessary new paragraph:

I'd like to get some cleaning done, or wash my car, or maybe go running or go to the gym. I also have a lot of things for work that I would like to spend time on. That sounds pretty dumb for a weekend activity, but I don't think it's that weird. In my job I end up being a guy that has to answer a lot of questions from a lot of people. That's not because I'm any smarter or more important than anyone else. I'm definitely not. It's just because the work I do on our product gets used by almost everyone else on the team. I'm not going to attempt to explain my job because I have failed in every attempt I've ever made to do that, and I will just confuse you because I'm terrible at explaining things. The point I'm getting to is that an excessively large portion of my work days is spent answering all the questions and trying to help people with problems. I wouldn't mind so much, except that it keeps me from doing the actual work I want and need to be doing. We talk about a lot of cool things we want to do at work, but we never have time to work on them because of all the interruptions and unexpected issues, and it's frustrating. I hate leaving work completely burnt out, yet having nothing tangible to show for my hard work that day. That would be my biggest complaint about my job.

So that's why I say I want to be doing things for work on the weekend, rather than wasting the days away like I usually do. I would even have fun working on that stuff, as nerdy as they might be. I can't pretend I'm not a giant nerd. But when you always leave work tired, stressed, and burnt out, you don't want to think about work anymore when you're at home. That's my one explanation for why I have so much trouble motivating myself. I still think I have motivation problems for other reasons, though. I just don't know what they are. I hate the feeling of having wasted time when I could have been doing so many other, more useful, things. I hate the feeling so much that you would think it would cause me to not do it anymore, but it doesn't. Maybe it's normal, I don't know. But I hate it.

I don't really know where I'm going with this. It was just on my mind. Hopefully I'll figure it out one day and feel less bad about myself. I'll have to figure it out one day. I'll have a house and a family and responsibilities coming out my butt, and I won't have time to waste time anymore. Maybe I should enjoy it while my life still allows me to. But the day I can't afford to waste time anymore is also the day I can't spend as much of my time doing things just because I want to. That's a scary thought.

Somehow it's after 5:00 already. Time to go eat, do laundry, and finish watching USC vs. Notre Dame. Notre Dame is up 21-14 right now. I hate Notre Dame, but not as much as I would love seeing USC lose, so I have to root for them today. Maybe while I watch I'll try to figure out what the hell to do with myself for the rest of the weekend. I have to go to a bar to watch the Redskins game tomorrow, since the stupid #$%@#%! Panthers are playing at the same time and taking up the TV slot. I expect everyone to be rooting for Joe Gibbs tomorrow. I know you won't let me down. Everyone enjoy your weekend. I'll try to be less reflective and depressing next time.

matt's life in brief

So I haven't written anything in about 5 months, much to the chagrin of a few people (e.g. my girlfriend) who mistakenly got into the habit of checking my blog regularly and expecting steady updates. In my defense, I said from the beginning that this would probably happen. Plus, did you really think I was an interesting enough person to have something to talk about every day? Anyway, I got inspired this morning so I thought I'd give a quick update on my life.

I guess around April after I last posted, I started trying to get my life in order. I'm starting to accept that I'm in a new stage of my life where I have lots of responsibilities that aren't going to go away anytime soon. Mostly I just took some time to figure out what I was doing with my money, how to budget it, how to save it, etc. Fun stuff. ***Side note: When you end a sentence with "etc." like I just did, are you supposed to put two periods, one for the abbreviation of "et cetera" and one for the end of the sentence? I've never known the answer to that.*** Anyway, I learned some things about investing, retirement savings, and the like....mostly a lot of things that would be a lot cooler if I made enough money to do them. One day, I guess. I started reading about buying a house too, even though that's still a little ways off (see previous statement about needing more money to do things).

I ran in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon with some friends in Virginia Beach over Labor Day weekend, which was a pretty cool experience, despite having to run the absurd distance of 13.1 miles. I was "training" for several months, though not as hard as I had planned and mostly in the last couple months before the race. I predicted a finishing time of about 2:15:00 when I signed up in March, decided around August that my real goal would be 2:00:00, and finished the race in 1:59:14. So I guess it was a success. It was a good time, and something I'll do again. You can go to the course simulation if you're really that bored and watch me as a little dot running around the course. Put in bib number 15621.

I guess there's not really much else to talk about without making this post ridiculously long. I'm hoping to get up to Blacksburg to see friends and a football game some weekend coming up. I can't describe how happy I am that football season is finally back. The Hokies have a hell of a team this year, and the Redskins, even though they've looked ugly as sin so far, have made it to 2-0, so I'm very happy right now.

I get to see Meg the next two weekends in a row, which is fantastic. We're going up to Richmond for Chris and Mel's engagement party next weekend, and she's coming to see me in Raleigh the week after. We think we might finally see the end of this long distance roller coaster ride off in the distance, sometime after her graduation next May. I can't even explain how unreal it feels to even be able to think about being with her all the time, in one place, without 300 miles separating us all the time. We've learned not to get our hopes up too high though, and to just let things happen as they happen. It's the only way to stay sane through this. The distance will be gone one day when it's good and ready, and that will be an amazing day for both of us.

Ok, I said I was ending this a paragraph ago. I'm going to try to do a better job of keeping in touch with everyone, because I've sucked at it so far....I've kinda sucked at it all my life and I feel bad about it. I miss all my friends from MD, school, and everywhere else. So if you're reading this, please keep in touch....give a call, or come visit, or whatever, and I'll work on doing the same. Also, thanks to Meg (love you honey), I am now on Facebook, making me officially a giant tool, in case there was any doubt before. So, if you are also a giant toolface, look me up on there too. There's even a sexy picture for your viewing pleasure. Hope all is well with everyone. Signing off.

Ok, signing on again to tell you to buy "The Everglow" by Mae. One of the best CD's I've bought in a very long time. k, done.

i hate automatic faucets

Does anyone else have problems with automatic hand-sensing faucets in public bathrooms? We have "automatic" faucets in the bathrooms at work. I despise them. Every time I try to use them I hate my life a little bit more. Basically I get one of the following scenarios:

1. The faucet ignores the fact that i've been standing there for 10 seconds waving my hands at it like a tool and doesn't turn on at all
2. Same as #1 except now I move to the next sink over upon which the first faucet turns on now that no one is standing there anymore. I curse.
3. The faucet turns on long enough for me to wet my hands and cover them with soap, and then turns off. Return to scenario #1, this time with soapy hands.
4. The faucet repeatedly turns on and off in intervals of about a second as though i was standing there holding my hand in front of it, taking it away, putting it back, etc. I'm not. Keep giving me water you dirty, dirty bastard.
5. This is a special case in which one particular faucet in the bathroom by the break room almost always operates appropriately, yet produces a stream of water so weak it would take me 5 minutes to actually wash my hands in it. I probably should just stop going to that sink, but I always forget. I guess that's my fault, but that doesn't make it not suck.
   

Sometimes as I leave, all of the faucets turn on for no reason. I enjoy that too. I realize I may be the only person who cares at all about this, and you all think I'm just whining. Well I am, and I don't care. Something as trivial as washing my hands before I leave the bathroom should not be such a pain in the ass. I curse those things every day and I finally decided to vent. I thought it might help, but I'm still angry. I'll spare you any further ranting. Also, I'm sick and I hate it. My throat feels like sandpaper and I have to blow my nose every 5 minutes. It's an all-around good day.

i bought a car!

To my millions of readers, sorry i haven't updated this in a while. Life has been busy. The current top news story, of course, is that matt bought a new car. damn right. and it's pimp. Despite all the talk about making a road trip to get the special edition model of the Mazda3, or paying extra money to get it here in Raleigh, I went to the dealer to look again and the regular S model and decided it wasn't worth the extra money to get all the extra features on the SP model. I thought maybe I was just telling myself that to allay my feelings of selling myself short and not getting the one I've been lusting after for so long. But I really started to feel like some of those features didn't belong on a Mazda3. Extras like rain-sensing windshield wipers, while cool, really have no place on an "economy" car. It began to seem as though they were trying to make the car something it's not, and I didn't want to regret buying it. Also I started to really like the blue one, and I could only get the other one in dark grey. I'll put some pictures up soon, but yeah, my car is very new, very awesome, and very blue. And awesome.

In other news, work is busy as crap. It's been non-stop lately. I remember at my first co-op at IBM I played foosball all the time...often multiple times throughout any given day. It was great. The second and third co-ops there was still some, but significantly less foosball. Since I started full-time I think I've played twice, and that's just sad. Apparently I now measure workload in foosball minutes. I'm a tool.

So yeah, there's not much interesting to talk about despite how busy I've been. The car venture took up a ton of time. I'm pretty much done, except that there's a scratch on one side that I'm making them fix. It's small, but if there are going to be scratches on my brand new car (by the way, there were 12 miles on it when I first got in. sweet.) I want to be the one that puts them there. Anyway, I have a new car now, complete with my own car insurance and a big-ass loan to pay off over the next 2 years. This whole "being a responsible human being" stuff still freaks me out a little. I have a career, insurance, bills, benefits.....a retirement account for heaven's sake. It's just weird. I suppose I'll get used to it after a while. Ok, I'm done. This has just gotten long. Time to watch basketball. Have a good Easter. Goodnight.

this could only happen to me...

so this buying a new car thing was going fine. my car was ordered, and I was waiting for the phone call from the dealer, telling me that my car was in production and would be here in a few weeks. sounds great. but hold on a minute, I actually won't be getting that phone call. Why? Because the Mazda production plant CAUGHT ON FIRE. I'm not joking. The paint line at the plant seriously caught on fire and they have cancelled all production of the Mazda3 SP23 4-door sedan....hey, that sounds like exactly the car I ordered. I found this out last week and I'm still in disbelief. I mean, seriously, do things like this actually happen to other people, or is it just me?

I have a few options. The dealer can still get me the car I want, with my exact specs, because some of them were already produced before the fire. The problem is he has to buy it from another dealer which means I have to pay extra money since the other dealer will charge him extra money to get it. So instead of a $20,500 car with my sweet IBM discount, it would become more like $22,500-$23,000, which sucks. Another option is to find one of these dealers in Virginia or Georgia or wherever the hell they are, and take a road trip to go buy it. Or, I can get the regular Mazda3 S model, which is almost the same as the SP23 minus a few features. I'd be losing out on the dark grey color I wanted, the upgraded sound system, and some random things like rain sensing windshield wipers, auto headlights, and pollen filters for my A/C, all of which I don't really care about. Also, if I decided to get leather seats on the S model, I can't get seat heaters, which sucks. The more I think about it though, the less I think I need all that stuff. There are other colors I like, I can upgrade the sound system if I really want to, and I'm probably better off with cloth seats anyway because the summers in Raleigh are hot as balls and black leather would not help that at all, even though it looks sweet. I was going to get cloth seats in the first place, but the SP23 only came with leather so I got myself fixed on the black leather for a while. I would also be saving myself a few thousand dollars if I went the S model route instead of the SP. I think I can get the S model for about $18,500.

Anyway, this is the part where everyone writes and tells me what I should do, because I can't decide. I decided once. My decision caught on fire. I don't want to make another one because it will probably catch on fire too. I realize there are about 3 people who ever read this blog, so I'm not expecting much help, but any comments would be appreciated. I'm going tomorrow to look at the S model and see if I would regret getting that instead of the SP.

Someone out there really doesn't want me to buy this car....

my girlfriend rules. so does stewie.

i've been looking for a wall calendar for a while now. i need one A) so i know what day it is (many calendars are used in this fashion), and B) so I have something to put on my wall at work. My cubicle at work, while not too shabby, is completely barren and void of all decoration, which is just depressing after a while, especially when I realize that I'm going to be in that cubicle for a very, very long time. I need a plant or something. and some pictures. but for starters, why not a calendar? the problem here is that late february is not exactly in the heart of calendar season. have you ever tried to buy a calendar in february? they don't exist. enter meg. today in the mail I got my somewhat-belated Valentine's Day present: a Family Guy calendar. not only do I get a calendar for my cube, but every day I get to look at hilarious pictures of stewie doing funny things and saying things like, "what do you know about the machine!?" If you haven't seen Family Guy you need to. If you have and you don't like it, you're probably stupid. Stewie is the greatest cartoon character ever created. and holy crap! There's a Family Guy book! I just found it when I was making that link. "Family Guy: Stewie's Guide to World Domination." I am filled with happiness and joy.

Anyway...back to the point. I have the best girlfriend ever. Meg is so good at the little things, and she always comes up with the best ideas for me. We never make a big deal out of Valentine's Day. We buy small gifts and usually we end up postponing it and having our own Valentine's Day because we're not in the same state when the real one happens. One of the joys of a long distance relationship....it's a little crappy, but she's worth it. I realize I'm making a big deal out of a calendar, but the point is meg always manages to find something creative and perfect for me, and it amazes me every time. she's too good for me, but I'll never complain.

The Fugitive is TV right now. I love that movie. It used to be my favorite movie before I saw Shawshank. I always forget how good it is. Also, Quizno's is delicious. On that note i bid you goodnight. Maryland is playing clemson tonight....should be an easy game but they already lost to them once so who the hell knows. I have to go prepare myself. goodnight.

oh. pictures of chuck the wagon are up. check him out. he is a work of art.

we did what??

This is a couple days late, but Virginia Tech beat Duke in basketball Thursday night. I need to double-check, but this might be the funniest thing that has ever happened. i watched the game at home by myself....a little pathetic, but at least I had beer....and I was freaking out. we certainly play some ugly basketball at times, but somehow this was actually a good game. Maryland has always been my real college b-ball team, but of course i have to root for my own school too. it's a proud moment seeing your alma mater (wow...that's the first time i've ever called VT my alma mater and it was the weirdest thing ever) pull such a huge upset, and even prouder when the team they upset is the Duke Blue Devils. Duke is easily on my top 5 list of sports teams for which i have the most inexplicable hatred. Allow me to give you that very list, in no particular order:

1. Duke Blue Devils basketball
2. Miami Hurricanes football
3. New York Yankees
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. UVA
   
6. Dan Martin
   

Those on the above list have no business existing on this planet. I wish I could hit them all in the face with a stick.

It's been a good season for my teams against Duke. Maryland beat them twice, despite being tools and sucking in most of their other games. You may have heard something about VT getting obliterated by 35 points in their previous meeting with Duke, but you can ignore that crazy talk because I decided that game didn't actually happen. Thursday's win is the one that matters. end of story.

stupid maryland just let UVA take them into overtime. i'm going to watch. if they lose i'm going to cry. pictures of chuck the wagon are still on the way. weekends are sweet.

chuck the wagon

ok. first order of business: everyone needs to know about chuck the wagon. chuck is a 1988 white subaru DL wagon, purchased for $50 by myself and John for the purpose of learning to drive a stick shift. yes, the car was actually $50. I didn't leave off a zero or anything. we bought him off some dude in chapel hill who didn't want him anymore. i'm pretty sure chuck's sound system is more expensive than chuck. chuck has 90 horsepower and he is white, extremely ugly, and even more awesome.

the plan is to let chuck take the inevitable beating every car with a manual takes from a first-time driver, and then use my mad stick-shifting skills to buy a new 2005 Mazda3 SP23. John's buying a 2005 Ford Mustang convertible.....he wins....but mine will still be sweet. i'm already getting a lot better at driving chuck, so the plan seems to be working. if I can drive an '88 subaru wagon I think I can probably drive anything. at the time of this posting there's not much there now, but go to www.chuckthewagon.com to see chuck, one of man's all-time greatest creations. i took some pictures today so they'll go up soon. it would be sooner if I hadn't left the camera in my car, and if my car wasn't so far away from this couch.

side note: i just learned about google's new map site and it's awesome. go to maps.google.com. it's still in beta, but it's going to put yahoo, mapquest, and every other map site i've ever seen to shame.

randomness

randomness
so i've been saying i was gonna give in and do one of these things for a long time now and i thought i'd actually do it today. i'd really like to make my own website one day instead of letting google do it for me, but this will have to do for now. i can't promise there will ever be anything interesting here, but it's here if you're bored and curious about the current state of the life of matt. i'll try to actually post things on a regular basis, but everyone says that and it never happens, so I don't see why it will be any different for me. anyway, read, comment, say hello, whatever. enjoy.