Hitting the Road, Jack

Well, I'm going to be gone this next week, as I will be driving over to Seattle today to meet up with the family, and then tomorrow we will all drive over to the coast for a week of camping. It Should be enjoyable. I haven't seen them in a while, so it will be nice.
In other news, we went live with the GoArmy site two weeks ago, which meant that some relaxing was in order. First, on that friday we blew off work at about 3 and grabbed some beers from the corner store and just hung out. Then, the next Friday we blew off work at about 2 and went to the Elk as a team for some much-needed "team-building" (and drinking). This Wednesday, we had a company-wide celebration in which we once again blew off work early, drank some beer, and ate some BBQ. As a result, we have been in a state of relaxation for the past few weeks. Basically, it's been a fun month so far, and it promises to get even more enjoyable.
The only downside to going out of town with the folks is that I won't be able to drink beer for a week. Sigh. Well, that should cover it for now. I'll probably post a rundown of the week's events when I get back to the 'Kane on Friday. On Saturday, Trev will celebrate his 26th birthday, so feel free to drop by our place and wish the big guy a happy birthday. It'll be even funnier if you don't know him. In the meantime, if you are in the mood for some humorous music, I recommend that you check out Jonothan Coulton, who sings songs about such sundry topics as zombies in the office, giant squids in love, the romantic struggles of evil geniuses, and the prospect of Christmas for the slaves of robot overlords--did I say overlords? I meant protectors--, among other things. Hilarious, especially for the geek set.

Feeding the Habit

Saturday, we were hanging out in the apartment, doing our usual thing. Trev, Sheena, and I were playing WoW, while Phyx and Monarch were playing some Ninja Gaiden. At this point, there came a knock on the door. Figuring it was probably just another one of the crew, we simply called out, "come in." After some initial hesitation, the door opened a crack, revealing a quite attractive teenage girl, with what looked to be the materials for hawking some sort of merchandise (probably magazine subscriptions, I figured). Because I knew that I was going to turn down her sales pitch, I decided to save her some time and hand her off to Trev (the nice one in our house). At this point, I sent a tell to Sheena, indicating a possible response to the solicitor.
"I dare you to say that!" she responded.
"Give me ten bucks for it?" I asked.
"I'll owe you!"
"Sweet. If she asks, I'll say it."
As the solicitor managed to get Trev to subscribe to a magazine, I steeled myself. She turned to us.
"And what about you?"
"Well," I said, "I would totally order a subscription, but that would cut into my booze budget. I've got a dependency, and I kind of have to feed it."
Trev, Phyx, and Monarch, who were all unaware that this was coming, were about ready to die laughing. Fortunately, they were able to hold it in just long enough to keep from blowing it. At this point, she started to look rather uncomfortable, as I was clearly not what she was bargaining for. As soon as she had edged out of the door, an explosion of laughter erupted from everyone in the room. It was rather humorous, I'd say. In my defense, I wasn't going to buy a subscription anyway, and at least this way I didn't waste her time. Plus, my friends and I were amused.