Damn the Garbage Man!
So last week I forgot to put the trash can out at the street which is no big deal cause the can is enormous, and if need be can go two weeks without pick up. So last night I took all the trash out to the can, which is now extremely full, and pushed it out of the garage and up to the street. So this morning I hear the garbage man drive up the street to, what I thought was, pick up the trash. So later I go outside to bring it into the garage, and it is still full. So I walk across the street to check their can and its empty, so I think to myself, "maybe he was full and had to skip my side of the street to go empty the truck and come back." So I then went and checked the neighbor next to me and his is empty too. So now I am dumb-founded, "why the hell didn't he get mine." So I call the garbage company and the lady asks, "did you have it at the street?" I tell her "yeah since last night." So she tells me to hold on while she radios the garbage truck, that bastard says, "it wasn't there when he came this morning." Now I can understand just making a mistake and saying something like, "wow, I must have missed it." But don't sit there and lie to me because you are incompetent. So now I have to wait until tomorrow to get it picked up. If only he knew how toxic those dirty diapers are. Damn you garbage man, damn you!

For all the early adopters of the 64-bit processors such as my self, here is a link to get a free copy of Windows XP Pro 64-bit edition to use on your Athlon 64.

Is it just me or is blogger having issues lately.

A couple of years ago there was a pretty decent game called blood rayne about a half vampire/half human chick that killed bad guys kinda like a really hot female Blade. Anyway a new game is coming out later this year. Now apparently she will be on playboy as well. Kinda weird considering she isn't a real person. Lara Croft next I suppose. Saw this on a gaming website:

"Rayne Makes Her Playboy Debut
Rayne is 100% topless and smokin' hot in the October issue of Playboy magazine. This is a first in videogame history and trust us when we say that Rayne does not disappoint. The magazine hits newsstands in early September so here's a great excuse to get a copy!"

Scary as Hell! I have been playing Doom 3 for about a week now, and I have to say it is the most frightening game I have ever played. To the point where I almost wet myself. ID Software did a tremendous job creating atmosphere, from the hum of machinery around you to the sound of a fan whirring above your head to the constant moaning, you really find yourself immersed especially if you play as I do, with the lights off and headphones on. It really blows me away how well polished this game is. While the game really adds no new innovation to the first person genre, it by far raises the bar for all FPS games. At first it really bothered me that I couldn't use the flashlight at the same time as a weapon, but now I see how much more it adds to the equation when something is coming for you and you have to turn out the light to switch to your weapon. It really does make your pulse pound. And the graphics are amazing, even with my ATI Radeon 9800 pro. While it is priced higher than most games at $54.99 but worth every penny.

An Xbox Game I am very much looking forward to.

It has been an interesting week, last week I discovered that my former boss, and the current Store Manager of the new Safeway store in Astoria, was transferred to a smaller location. This made me very happy because she made my life a living hell for almost 2 years and she is probably part of the reason I decided to step down to a part time position at Safeway and pursue a career in Real Estate Appraisal last year. Then Monday I'm working at Safeway in Seaside and get a phone call from my District Manager (big boss), and he tells me he needs my help. He asks me if I would consider becoming the acting Store Manager of the Astoria store and the current Assistant manager would be my assistant. He said he needed me to go in and fix all of its problems. I kind of figured they would ask me to go help at the Astoria store when this all went down, but I had no idea that I would be asked to run the store. Then he says, "Derek, you know if you wanted to, you could be a Store Manager tomorrow if you so desired." Now this has thrown my hole career choice for a loop. The plan was to go to part time at Safeway while I learned to be an appraiser, and once I got certified with the State of Oregon, I would leave Safeway completely. It will probably take more than a year to get enough experience to apply to take my state test to be certified, and the pay currently as an assistant appraiser is significantly less than I make at Safeway, but the future potential is high. But now, there is a chance that I could be offered the Astoria store permanently if I can turn the store around. It is definitely a slim chance considering that this Store is a flagship store for all of Safeway's Portland Division (120 Stores), and it is also a new design 1 of about 10 new concept stores for the company, and they tend not to give such high profile stores to brand new managers. But there is still a chance, and now I would have an opportunity to make a lot more money, and do things the way I want rather than having to follow someone else's style and direction. But at the same time working for Corporate America definitely has its down sides, and working as an appraiser has a lot of advantages for me and my family. So I am completely torn. But Rachelle and I talked and decided that I would say yes to running the store temporarily, and if it is offered to me, I will most likely say yes to becoming the permanent Store Manager. Hopefully it all works out in my favor, it would be nice to have something go my way for a change.