Third trimester!

W00t, I am in the third trimester today!! Three more months and we can finally meet this baby that likes to punch and kick me all the time ;) Can't wait to meet the mini us!

Healthcare begins to feel the econmic crisis

I saw this article on Cnn.com and it is from Time:

US Hospitals Feel Debt, Credit Troubles

Beaumont was even mentioned in this article and I knew they were having issues from friends that work there. In November we were told at U of M that they were starting to have problems and they are cutting non-patient care jobs as needed. As a nurse we think our job is safe but if things get rough enough then even our industry can feel it. The problem is that elective surgeries and elective diagnostic procedures are down but then these people show up later in the ER very sick and unable to pay. We will have to see what happens... Up until Christmas our unit was crazy busy with a full house and more patients needing to come in. Hopefully we will pick up again after the Christmas slow down.

Whatever you Like

100 days to go

We are getting down to the home strech. Only 100 days to go! Go Sue!

Groundhog of Auto Industry

The US Senate has decided to skip a bailout for the auto industry.

I feel like I'm watching a six and twisted version of the Groundhog Day celebration, with the US Senate as Punxsutawney Phil. Can't you just see Governor Granholm standing on a throne of ice shouting:

"In a few days, the US Senate shall emerge from its burrow in Washington. If it sees its shadow and returns to its burrow without giving the auto makers a loan, I decree we shall have 6 more years of recession in Michigan!"

Rule one: Always check you have key

Detroit News: Dearborn police needed to free handcuffed wife after 'adult time'

Thoughts:

1) Make sure you know where the key is BEFORE letting your significant other handcuff you to anything.

2) The cops were summoned at 7:15am. That means that either the couple oped for some early morning bondage (kinky) or she was handcuffed all night and they finally gave up at 7:15 in the morning. Which do you think is more likely?

3) Way to ruin a good thing dude. How long do you think it will be before this woman will EVER agree to handcuffing again?

MSU in Capital One Bowl

So its offical: MSU is going to the Capital One Bowl (a.k.a., the Citrus Bowl). I can see some pros and cons with that:

Pros:

- New Years Day Bowl? Those are when REAL bowls are played!

- MSU gets $4.25 million just for showing up. That's not a bad deal.

- This is the same bowl UofM played in last year when they beat Florida.

Cons:

- We play Georgia, a team that is nearly as good as Ohio State or Penn State.

- Unlike Big Ten teams, SEC teams typically don't mind running up the score. You think losing to Penn State 49-18 is bad? It could be 60+ with Georgia.

Wednesday Bar Night

We had a really good bar night on Wednesday.

Highlights:

My junk was cold for most of the night.

Joyce was a really cheap date.

Kien was my early 90s rap partner (House of Pain for the win!)

Wandering Eric showed up for a bit; I think there was a bet about whether I would use every seat at the table at least once (I only used 4).

At no time did I have the urge to sing karaoke.

Kasia and I competed on sexiness. She won.

And finally: I made it home without throwing up.

All in all, a good night:)

Minty Happiness

My favorite time of year is here again!

That's right: It's Mint M&M time again!

I bought my first bag of the season today; it was everything I remembered and dreamed it would be.

Cheesy girl post!

Saturday, Eric (the loving awesome husband that he is), took me to see Twilight. I have wanted to see this movie ever since I heard it was going to be made. I read all of the books by Stephanie Meyers and the books are very well written. I haven't been so into a series of books in such a long time. Eric wasn't too disappointed in seeing it. The first movie is a lot of background story so it is not as exciting or as sexy as some of the later ones. Can't wait for the next 3 movies.

I highly recommend these books. I was recommended them and loved them!

Justin Timberlake rocks SNL.

Justin Timberlake always rocks on SNL and I am so sad he had to cnacel next week. At least we got this a skit after it...

Bailout Big 3?

I'm curious what my readers think of bailing out the Big 3. Part of me thinks that one of them needs to fail, so we should just let it happen. Its probably going to happen sooner or later anyways. That's what recessions are for really: replacing companies that cannot compete with more efficient ones.

And part of me thinks that the worst possible thing that could happen in what already looks like a recession is to put a couple hundred thousand more people out of work.

What do you guys think?

Facebook Controls You

You think you control your facebook profile, but really, it controls you!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

One More Reason I like Obama

He thinks the one thing to change in sports is adding a playoff to college football. I couldn't agree more! Skip to about 1:15 in this video to see the quote:

First Bad Recession in our Adult Lives

It appears we are heading into a bad recession, the first one I have ever encountered in my adult life. While I tend to think I'm in a pretty safe job, I also thought that the last time I was laid off way back in during the start of the 2001 recession. Is anyone else worried?

One of the things that always interests me is the response companies have to a recession. Almost uniformly, they will cut jobs. But that actually just makes the recession worst because it lowers demand (if you're out of work, you stop buying stuff). That in turn forces more people out of work, which forms this sort of vicious cycle of layoffs and drops in demand.

I don't know what the right answer is, but I hope our new government has some interesting tricks up their sleeves.

Customers don't like Reality

"This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers"

As an engineer, I should not be allowed to be unsupervised on the phone with customers. Engineers have no ability to sugar coat things for a customer. Take this wonderful conversation I had with about 8 people from our biggest customer.

Them: We have two PCs in the remote lab. On one of them, the application starts in 40 seconds. On the other, it starts in 90 seconds. Why do you think that is?

Me: <short pause> well, it could be a lot of reasons. Off the top of my head...

Them: I think its your application.

Me: Well, lets look at it rationally: What is different between the two PC? Are they running the same software? Are they using the same configuration?

Them: Yes

Me: Well, then I don't think its the application. Maybe its your network...

Them: No its your application.

Me: <speaking as if talking to a 3 year old>I don't know what to tell you. If the app is the same and the configuration is the same, it can't be the application. They are running the same stuff! The results should be the same.

<Long Pause...>

Them: Well, there is one difference. On the fast one we load the software from the hard drive. On the other, we load it across the network.

Me: (thinking to myself: are you people retarded? You don't think that MIGHT be the issue?) Well, I think that explains it. The long pause is the time it takes to load the software.

Them: It can't be. Our network is great.

....

It devolves from there into me repeating that whatever is different between the PCs is the problem and them repeating it must be something in the software. I'll spare you the details.

...

Me: look, we can't both be right. Either it really is running the same software and really is using the same config or sometime about your PC/network is the issue. You go and figure it out and let us know. (Thinking in my head: In the mean time, I'll be sitting in my office not worrying about this because I already know your network is to blame).

Stretching: The Truth

Interesting article for those you who actually work out on occasion:

NYT: Everything you know about stretching is wrong

From the article:

If you’re like most of us, you were taught the importance of warm-up exercises back in grade school, and you’ve likely continued with pretty much the same routine ever since. Science, however, has moved on. Researchers now believe that some of the more entrenched elements of many athletes’ warm-up regimens are not only a waste of time but actually bad for you. The old presumption that holding a stretch for 20 to 30 seconds — known as static stretching — primes muscles for a workout is dead wrong. It actually weakens them. In a recent study conducted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, athletes generated less force from their leg muscles after static stretching than they did after not stretching at all. Other studies have found that this stretching decreases muscle strength by as much as 30 percent. Also, stretching one leg’s muscles can reduce strength in the other leg as well, probably because the central nervous system rebels against the movements.

Whorecraft

So I was just surfing around the internet this evening, minding my own business. Totally not looking for porn. I swear! Anyway, I came across the following site that I knew all the male nerds who read this blog would like:

Whorelore: Swords, Sorcery, and Sex

Do I even have to tell you that this is not safe for work?

Event more nerdy: apparently this site used to be called "Whorecraft". Awesome.

Sue and I did get a good laugh at the name of the most current episode: The Rage of Bonan.

Bonan...hehe...

For the Michigan/Obama Fans out there

http://www.urtshirts.com/?gclid=CKbZrqOgz5YCFQsQagodQSlj1g

Paris for President?

Warning up front: you can practically feel brain cells dying in anguish as you watch this.

YouTube: Paris For President (Sort of safe for work)

Worst part: I first saw this on CNN! What the Fuck CNN? I know 24 hours is a lot of time to fill, but THIS?