I’ve had quite a weekend, all on the cheap.

First, I looked all over town for some cord winders to help manage some of the cables for the controllers on the PS2. I have some, but one broke and I need to replace it - the cords on this thing are unruly. I looked high and low and was about to pay $5 each for them at cableorganizer.com when I found them two for $2.50 at the APC Factory Outlet. I bought four pairs so I won’t have to go looking again for a while. I hope. Cost: $15 ($10 for the winders, $5 for shipping).

Then I went out looking for a new pair of slippers. I come home every day, put on my slippers, then wear the bastards all over - out to get the mail, watering the lawn, barbecuing… it’s almost like I just need a floppy, comfortable pair of shoes. What it ends up meaning is that whatever slippers I get, I need them to have a nice, durable sole but still be cushy inside.

Anyway, I’ve worn out the insides of the slippers I bought last year and the interior comes out in hanks when you pull your foot out. Unfortunately, slippers are a seasonal item and don’t normally come out in stores until late fall/early winter. It happened that Fred Meyer had them in stock, though, and I got some pretty rugged slippers for the bargain price of $16.

Finally, Sunday (today) was the Corillian Engineering department picnic at the Oregon Zoo. A great lunch, free all-day pass to the zoo, passes to the new HimalAmazon motion simulator ride (hella fun), and passes to a behind the scenes tour of the Alaska Tundra exhibit where we got to see how they take care of the grizzly bears, musk oxen, and wolves. Fun!

I love looking at the animals at the zoo. My favorites are the polar bears and the giraffes (well, they’re all my favorites, but I really like those two). Here’s the polar bear, hanging out. (Also available in a 1024 x 768 wallpaper size, if you really like it.)

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I remember when you used to be able to feed the giraffes at the zoo and ride elephants. They don’t let you do that anymore. I can see maybe not riding elephants, but come on - I wanna feed giraffes!

Something I hadn’t seen before - a giraffe bending over to get some food off the ground. Quite the contortions it has to do to get down there:

Wait a sec… let’s investigate that a little closer, shall we?

That’s what I thought.

So now I have a new mission next time I’m at the zoo: take a picture of the nuts on every animal I visit. Heh.

Oh, but to tie that all back into the “bargain weekend” theme: It cost me $3.50 to ride the light rail from Hillsboro out to the Zoo and back; and $2.50 for a zoo key (a plastic key that you can put into electronic boxes around the zoo that tell you things about the animals - Jenn and I have a bunch of different ones and get a new one each time we go). Total: $6.

Thus, for all the cool stuff I got and the fun I had this weekend, it only ended up costing a total of $37, which is a pretty cheap weekend if you really think about it. I’m stoked.

I got in to work this morning and noticed that overnight someone fucking stole the South Park Timmy doll from my desk.

I guess up until now I assumed that people around here had a little common fucking courtesy and respect and wouldn’t touch shit on other peoples’ desks. Now I know that’s not the case.

I’m pissed.

Does this mean I have to put up a surveillance camera on my cubicle when I leave at night? Jeez. One would hope it wouldn’t come down to that. Do I have to take all my stuff off my desk so it doesn’t get stolen? What the fuck?!

This was seen in the parking lot this morning. Apparently this is not uncommon for this particular vehicle:

This person is why many parking lots have signs that say “head-in parking only.” Some folks still haven’t taken that class on how to park, the advanced stage of which is “how to use reverse in combination with mirrors to ensure you’re actually in a parking spot.” This is no exception.

I am ashamed to work at a company where people believe this is okay.

It’s Jenn’s birthday today, so happy birthday to her. Woohoo!

While crusing around the net on my usual rounds, I saw this bad boy. Mr. T in your pocket. It’s just crazy enough that I may well have to buy it.

(I haven’t got it yet, but I’m seriously considering.)

I mean, how can you pass up on the random “I pity the fool!” in the middle of a serious business meeting? Is that not the ultimate icebreaker?

I’ve been quiet around here for about a week, but that’s just because I’ve been busy doing stuff I don’t remember too well. Don’t worry, I’m not neglecting the site.

I went to a Winter Hawks game this past Friday and, following that, a meet-and-greet with the team. We won, which is really good and I hope is a sign of things to come. I was impressed by a couple of the new guys on the team.

I don’t remember what I did Saturday. I know I worked on painting my upstairs bathroom (which ended up getting finished Sunday, minus some small touch-ups that need to be done). I’m sure it’ll come to me later. I know I should have written it down.

Sunday I was pretty much free so I called a friend of mine I hadn’t talked to for a while to try to get together with him… but I just got the voicemail. Instead, I bought Jenn a copy of Burnout 3 for her birthday and we played that.

I also picked up a copy of the Saturday Night Live: Best of Christopher Walken disc. I’m a huge Christopher Walken fan… but somehow I remember these skits being funnier than they were. Maybe they didn’t choose an appropriate “best of,” or maybe their idea of “best” differs from mine.

Yesterday I got the stitches taken out of my side where I had a mole removed a couple of weeks ago. Everything is healing up fine and the mole wasn’t cancer, which is good (though I never thought it was… I have a theory this particular doctor, while smart, is trying to make a buck by hypothesizing about cancerous moles).

My next couple of weekends look to be pretty booked up. There’s a company picnic coming up this weekend (here’s hoping for good weather), then next weekend there are two birthday parties to go to - my grandfather’s 80th and a friend’s 30th. Plus the usual housework crap that always waits until the weekend.

I’ve got some lawn patches that I may have to deal with soon. I’m thinking it’ll involve getting a bag of top soil, cutting “holes” in the lawn, and patching over the fresh top soil. The soil around my house sucks - beneath the sod they laid down when the lawn was put in is a layer of clay, then gravel. Lame. Makes it hard to keep stuff going, let me tell you. We’ve also got to get some sort of ground cover (barkdust, gravel, etc.) in because the weeds are taking over. We do our best to keep on top of them, Jenn and I, but it’s an uphill battle.