This is my blarg! – Page 17 – Ramblings of a Microsoft Solution Architect

A delicate combination of fast music, blues, and all out insanity.

August 14, 2003 by Tommy·0 Comments

As Seattle has been one of the most talked about Lindy Exchanges out there, I pondered…who am I to pass up such a great opportunity such as this? Apparently, about 200-300 people had that exact same thought. or maybe some deviation of that thought. or maybe it went along the lines of “Wow, there’s going to be some kick’arse women/men there!” (Including the infamous Skadoo) or “Hot Damn! I feel the need to dance to some 200+ bpm song while totally experiencing the whole tribal rhythym.” or maybe it was just subconcious that anyone who is anyone should be there. It was all of that and a bag of really finely cooked salmon.

Hosted by the lovely, talented, and sexy Mrrree and her beau Jeremy, I was able to browse the finer locations of Seattle, from their balcony. Completely, on a whim, on Thursday night, I attended a performance workshop by Zah-Zu-Zay (2002 American Lindy Hop Championship winners) which we later performed that night. I was also “properly introduced” to the Meghan/Mrreee combo of Seattle fame. After some food and going through my 3rd or 4th wind, I was ready to crash. Which, I did. Quiet successfully, I might add. The next morning, another Dallas-ite, Heather Leigh Smith, and I went roaming around downtown Seattle for some dancing with the local band “Dusty 45’s“. Later on…there was more dancing. And even after that…even more dancing.

Next few days…guess what? More dancing. Random blues-ing. There was also some beach side activities and cutting up that happened about every time I heard someone scream out, “Tommy! Come over here…and bring your camera!” Oh yeah…lots of good naughty-ness with the Austin Lindy Exchange paddle. We also got to visit the famous Pike’s Fish Market. One of my favorite dances was in the heart of Seattle, where some “Got Milk?” advertisement campaign tried setting up a concert across the street from us, but they only lasted 30 seconds, because they knew that they couldn’t compete with the entertainment provided by 200 people from all over the world (Including France and Australia, let alone 6 people from Texas!). That place is also where I think that I got the best picture of the exchange. It’s also where Will finally got to invoke his revenge on an old water fight from the Salt Lake City Exchange. Thankfully, Melissa’s a good sport.

Outage…BAD! Seattle Exchange…GOOD!! OBEY MY DOG!

August 12, 2003 by Tommy·0 Comments

As some might have noticed, my site has been down for a while. This seems to happen right after exchanges. Which is, of course, the worst time for it to go down since I’m ready to start posting pics ASAP for all to see. Hopefully, I will have the Seattle Exchange pics up by tonight for your viewing pleasure.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for the story of the Snoopy Kiss, here ya go. This is Lee’s account. I plan to have mine up soon enough.

— Feeling refreshed. Could be the 11 hours of sleep I got today.

The Avalanches

August 10, 2003 by Tommy·0 Comments

Earlier this week, I found out that one of my favorite bands, “The Avalances”
was playing at the Red Jacket on Friday. “Oh my Gosh! I’ve gotta get all
my friends together to partake in this grand musical concert.” So, I squandered
up my friends “Lee”, John, Eric and Bill. Part of the core gaming group
that gets together at either my or Bill’s parents house.

Anyway, most of the group meets at my house and we pile into my Saturn for a quick trip to “The Jacket“.
We sit back and have a good time with some cheap drinks only to hear those
dreaded words, “The Avalanches will not be playing tonight.”

NNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! You people have no idea how much I’ve been waiting
for this. How much I’ve been anticipating this! How much effort into making
sure that my butt was inside the Red Jacket
so that I can get primo stage viewing for the only concert that I’ve ever
took an active role in organizing a group to go see! Gahhhh!

Thankfully, I was with friends. Not just any friends, but friends that
I KNOW that I will have a good time with…no matter where we are. So, we
decided to go see “Signs“, the new M. Night Shyamalan
flick. (What’s cool is that he is a major character in the film.) We showed
up 5 minutes before it started. Which is very interesting, because a large
portion of the movie was about what type of person are you:

Someone who believes that luck is just luck or
Someone who believes that everything happens for a reason.

I, myself, am a person who believes that everything happens for a reason. Now, I don’t know why the Avalanches
show was cancelled, but I admit that I had a GREAT time tonight. And I also
believe that everything worked out so that we could see the very last showing
of “Signs” at Cinemark that night.

Now I don’t know if my belief is “The Truth”
or whatnot, but I do know that it gives me hope. When things aren’t looking
so well, it’s good to believe that there’s some reason that it’s happening.
Besides, I don’t think anyone knows “The Truth“,
therefore, you’re just making it up from your perspective. Might as well
make up something that will forward you. And believing that everything happens
for a reason does keep hope alive for me.

With that logic…you’re reading this for a reason.

Know why? I don’t. I just have faith that you are.

Jeromy’s Gettin’ Married!

August 4, 2003 by Tommy·0 Comments

I’ve
always known that I’m surrounded by some of the greatest people on Earth.
I think that God has blessed me in many ways by providing me with friends
that care for me deeply and will support me eternally. This weekend, I got
to be a Groomsman in the wedding for one of those people that I hold very,
very high: Jeromy McDerment.

Jeromy and I were Sophmore roommates back in my zany days of college.
During that time, I was off persuing my own ways, trying to figure myself
and my life out; meanwhile, Jeromy was a strong Christian influence on me
which was unwavering and never-ending brotherly love. He and his brother
Cliff, and Cliff’s wife, Brooke, always amazed me at the amount of pure love
and respect they had for each other. They don’t know this, but they were
my idols back in college. Jeromy and I always used to kid about who the
other people was going to marry and about our futures. (Ahem…Annette McDerment!)
And now I got to see this lucky girl who Jeromy asked to be his wife. I
first found out about Cathy when Jeromy told me that he was engaged. I knew
that they were perfect for each other after seeing this picture of them.

Now onto the wedding:

I carpooled with some of Jeromy’s current friends and one of my old Tulane buddies,
Aaron Kirtley. (One of the smartest men I know, who just finished MIT graduate
school and knows at least 3 languages and is a very humble and pleasant person.
Pretty good for someone who also looks like Matt Damon.)
We caught up and had lunch together at the mall where we discovered the freaky
chicken guy. (Some white guy who wore lots of makeup, had dreadlocks which
he wore up while some dreads beaded down his white beret.) We got to the
hotel to discover they had Krispy Kreme
right across the street. My taste buds were more than happy to take some
free samples and eat some for breakfast, dinner and lunch the following days.
After the rehersal and rehersal dinner, I crashed after getting only 2 hours
of sleep in the last 48.

The wedding went almost flawlessly, except for the limo driver who didn’t know what he was doing and passed the church on more than one occasion.

Here’s some pictures from the wedding:

One of my favorites: The bride and groom getting heart shaped sugar-paper tossed at them.

After the wedding, the two of them couldn’t keep their hands (or lips) off of each other. We then went to this beautiful park
to take some pictures. Come to find out, we weren’t the only ones to have
that idea. There were about 5 other bridal parties taking pictures at the
same park that time. Some of them apparently had a hard wedding and needed
to help loosen up. Some people were also fishing at the park and caught a biggie. Jeromy learned that if you ever need support, to just call on your friends.

Following the picture taking was the reception. Were the women had their hands up most of the time either catching stuff, or doing the YMCA. And of course, what would be a wedding w/o the ceremonial wrapping of the groom’s car. Maybe I should get out of the way.

The next day I went to Niagara Fall’s
with some of Jeromy’s buddies and we had a good time talking about the follys
of life, Krispy Kreme, women and of course…how to meet them. The best
thing we could come up with was following in the footsteps of this one guy
who we saw walk past us with a T-shirt that said, “Available.” How much
easier could it get except for adding your phone number to the back?

Needless to say, Niagara Falls
was breaktaking. I forget how many gallons of water flow over each minute,
but it was some number larger than my bank account. Oh, and here’s something
I didn’t know. Niagara Falls is actually two water falls. One is “America Falls” and the other is “Horseshoe Falls“. People say that the Canadian side has a more attractive view, but I think that it couldn’t get much better than where I was standing. One thing I really liked was the cloud of vapor that rose from the Horseshoe Falls. Me and the guys also went on a boat ride to the middle of Horseshoe Falls which was awesome. If you’re ever there, you MUST go. Oh, and yes, I took all of those pictures myself.

All in all, it was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I was able
to be a part of my good friend Jeromy’s wedding. Many blessings and much
love to you bro. Thanks for everything.

8/5/02 – Just in case you were wondering if I had any fun. 🙂 (That’s Cliff and Brooke in front of me.) Here’s another good picture of the couple.

Joseph and the Technicolor Strangeheart Colored Coat. Amazing.

August 2, 2003 by Tommy·0 Comments

Sometimes, there are those days where the World just seems to come at you with no rhyme or reason and you have no idea why. Well, this wasn’t one of those days.

This was one of those days where the World came at me, but it was all because of my own doing. Since this is Tax Free weekend, George and I went out to do some shopping and lunch Friday morning. By the time I finally got into work, it was about 2:30. I had some MAJOR catch-up to play in addition to finding someone to go see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with me. Thankfully, Nortel (Greatest place to work, eva.) understands that there are people like me that don’t adhere to a normal sleeping schedule, or even a normal working schedule for that matter, and as long as I’m a good and prosperous worker (which I have confirmed with my bosses), I have certain liberties. Yea me!

After a while of searching for someone to go with, I decided to take George as my “Man-date” (Just two guys going to see a play together. No funny business.), and we both really enjoyed the play. Due to popularity, they’ve extended it for another week. Go see it! (I think Lee’s planning a group watching next week, so talk to him.)

Then, we were onto Part 2 of the evening. An inebriated watching of Strangeheart at The Magnolia. A movie, along the same lines as Rocky Horror, where audience participation is, not just allowed, but encouraged. So is drinking. Which a number of us did. George and I were accompanied by a slew of people I knew would make this a great evening: Lee, Carolyn, Allison, Peck, Audra and Joe. I brought my homemade “Gatorade” (Read: Midori Sour). Matt Peck had some tasty Buttermint Schnapps that he was passing around. By the time, it got to me a 3^rd time, I decided to take a huge swig of it, only to find that he replaced it with pure Gin. I nearly spewed it on Carolyn, who was sitting in front of me. (I’ll get you for that Peck.)

Anyway, back to the movie. There are the typical lines that you’re supposed to shout out at opportune times, but I found that our own improvisational lines, belted out mainly by Lee and a few others that were “taken by the spirits”, had the entire theatre in an uproar and were much mo’ betta. Afterwards, a few of us went to Café Brazil for some after movie/drinking food. I was dragging myself around until I finally got my French Toast and I was hit with my 3^rd or 4^th wind or something.

Going to bed, I knew that my biological clock was going to keep waking me up, telling me that it’s time to go to work, but thankfully, I was able to press the internal Snooze button and get my 8 hours of sleep from 5AM – 1PM. J

–Snoopy Kiss is glad that he’s not a giant. Because then the only movies he would be able to see is at the drive in theatre. And then, I’d probably crush some cars.

Any party that lasts 20 hours, is a good party.

July 6, 2003 by Tommy·0 Comments

You know, I really wish that I could say that I had full control of the God and Goddess party yesterday, but I’ll have to admit…there was no holding it back. “It turned that knob to 11.” Oh yeah, when I woke up, there was an octopus in my sink. That’s how you know it was a good party. We also did have a cop come by, but thankfully the God of Bad Instructions waved to him with his beer bottle and he waved back and drove off.

The party went till about 2PM, the next day as some of the hard-core partiers (read: People too tired/drunk to drive home) went to the Original Pancake House for doilies and good grub.

I’ll also have to admit that this was one of the most fun parties to invite people to. How often do you actually get to be the God or Goddess of your choice for a night? We even had prizes which I bought, but never gave out. Two of the un-official winners were Jenna as the “Goddess of One Night Stands” who had a table, night clock, and other items attached to her. And Lee, The “God of Arrested Development” whose favorite X-mas gift in recent years was a K’Nex rollercoaster which he proudly wore on his head and was even functional!

The party was also paid a visit by Cleopatria, The Goddess of Water, The Goddess of Fire (completely unplanned), the Goddess of Fashion and the Goddess of Fashion Faux Pas (I kid you not, also, completely unplanned). George Lucas’ Goddess of Marketing, The God of Turn Tables, The God of All Things Shiny (your truly), The Goddess of Unfinished Projects (who went quite well with the God of Unfinished Party Decorating, as I was late on the preparations), The Goddess of All Things Naughty, God’s Gift to Women, Goddess of Common Sense (who should also win a prize for spending 3 hours hot gluing about 300 pennies to her already shiny dress), The God of Turntables who kept spinning his live mix till about 3AM and too many other deities to name.

It was a truly divine party, that I was proud to host; because there were so many cool people there. About 10% I met at that day. And another 10% I met the day before. 🙂 Pics are up! (Unfortunately, I didn’t take too many pics myself, and will get other people’s pics up as soon as I can.)

Oh yeah, and for those interested, I have the Pool of Pudding Pictures up. Although, due to the “Nature of the pictures” they’re password protected, so shoot me an email if you want in. BEWARE! Not safe for work. (That means you too mom.) If you want some of the videos, let me know. This was one of those parties, that I had no idea what I was getting into. How often do you get to see 60 gallons of pudding with people wrestling in it?

Yeah…that’s what I thought.

Rest…please…

June 11, 2003 by Tommy·0 Comments

They say that God/life will never throw anything at you more than what you can handle. I agree to that; however, in this past week, I think that I’ve thrown about as much as my body could handle.

The weekend before, I went to Salt Lake City for a Lindy Exchange. That was a hella lot of fun, even though the cops came in and busted us for holding a dance past 2AM. It was pretty upsetting as Salt Lake City is trying to be seen as a “normal” city, but still doesn’t allow organized dances past 2AM. As an outcry, I’ve created http://freenate.lastcoolnameleft.com where we hope to raise money for the Free Nate Foundation. (Nate being the person who organized the SLC Lindy Exchange, and is going to court, because of it.)

As for this few days, here’s a lowdown:

Parents came to town and brought my two nephews, Evan and Charles. It was interesting to have the little rug rats running around the house to see what a real family would be like, but I can definitely see that I’m not ready for parenthood.
To spend some quality time together before she headed back to Baltimore, Melissa stayed at my place for about a week.
The Master shower drain pan started to leak and my preciouuusss (read: House) started to leak and have all sorts of water problems.
Earlene Falgout, my grandmother passed away after a lengthy battle with Lung Cancer. She was almost 90. May she rest in peace.
Falgout Family Food Festival!!!! W00t! If you missed out on it, make sure not to do that next time. There was more seafood and other food that we didn’t know what to do with it all. Thankfully, I’ve got a big stomach and appetite.
And of course, Melissa’s departure from Dallas.

I took a sick day today, to let my body recuperate from all of the stress and it’s feeling much better, but my tummy’s rumbly. I think that there’s been a lot of loss for me recently; however, I’m quite proud of how I’m handling myself and not losing focus that life does go on and that these types of things happen.

BTW, if you’re a Matrix Fan, I HIGHLY recommend watching Animatrix. “The Final Flight of the Orisis” kick MUCH holy arse.

Carry on,

-Me.