Seriously....I have not laughed so hard in a looooooong time!!

So I'm flipping through the channels tonight and I notice Showtime at the Apollo is on. Whenever I see this on TV, I usually stop to watch the amateur talent (just another random fact about Mark that you've gotta love!).

As soon as I flip on the channel, they had just introduced this guy and he's on his way out, rubs the Tree of Hope and walks up to the mic. I thought he looked a little...well...different, but you really kinda get all kinds on Showtime sometimes. Anyway...I couldn't figure out exactly what he was gonna do, but there was NO WAY I was prepared for what came next!!! As soon as I watched it, I got on YouTube to find a the video (it was a rerun from a couple of weeks ago). Seriously...check it out. You HAVE to watch this video...it has got to be the best video on YouTube and probably one of the best moments on Showtime!! Watch...




So...did you watch???

Was that not absolutely hilarious?! I was literally laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face!! It was one of those really good laughs where I was jumping up and down in my seat, clapping and stomping the ground all at once! I was probably one glass of sweet tea away from having an accident, haha. The best thing is...he really does a pretty good job of it! I mean, he's only a sequins dress, some high heels and a wig away from Miss Tina Turner herself! I was just not prepared for that one. Fortunately I have DVR so I could record it and watch it over and over and over again! haha

PS - I just watched it again....still have tears streaming down my face! Literally ROTFL!!

Single much?

Whoa! I guess a lot of you folks out there are like me and didn't have Valentine's plans!! There was a huge spike in my blog hits yesterday! Yowza! (I stole that word from the hot girl I lived with one summer in Denver...also from whom I got my Nip/Tuck addiction, haha). Guess you all just spent the day of love at home alone reading blogs, haha. Seriously, though...thanks to those bloggers out there who have linked to me (some have even given me a parenthetical addendum to my link...sweet!). Also thanks to those bloggers who have befriended me and even chat with me despite their ever-so-busy lives!

As for me...pretty uneventful Valentine's day overall. Went to work, but didn't do much (I worked hard the beginning of this week and end of last week - hence the lack of posting - so I deserved it). Came home, continued trying to pull out fence posts (no injuries this time...but also no trips to Home Depot) until the sun went down, then went for a run. I actually ran 4 miles folks!!! What what??!! They were 4 very slow miles...my average was like a 10:37 mile or something ridiculous like that, but still...considering my previous best was only 2.5 miles and I felt sore for a couple days after that one, I am thrilled. Actually, I did a fartlek run (yes, it's pronounced like it sounds...hold back your giggling) tonight as part of some heart rate training. Oh yeah...I'm running in a 10K in April. A friend talked me into joining a training group for the run (although at the time, I thought the run was only a 5K, but oh well). I thought it'd be good to do it in the group b/c, although I could care less about the race, it figured it'd be good to have some structure to my runs, instead of just going for a jog when I felt like it. Plus a good place to meet new people, haha. Anyway, the group started last week, so I'll be running much more and with a much greater frequency now. Oh, and they like to do group runs early Saturday mornings...like I have to be there at 6:45 am --- and then run several miles!!!! Ugh! I knew there was something wrong with runners. Oh well...I'll let you know how that goes.

After my victory lap, (read - a lot of stretching and then passing out on my comfortable leather seats in the Maxima, haha) I decided I needed to reward myself with a good meal. After a quick shower and change of clothes, I headed out to this local bar that has the BEST hamburgers in the world!! Seriously, it's one of those places that doesn't advertise and doesn't even have a sign on the building, so a local has to take you there, but one of the times the President (as in...of the United States) was down in Columbia, they took him to eat there. Say what you want about our current commander in chief, but any place good enough for the leader of the free world has got to be decent. Anyway...I went there figuring no one would be there on Valentine's Day, so I could just pull myself up to the bar, get a burger and eat non-conspicuously...maybe even strike up a conversation with someone sitting around me. Apparently this place was like THE hangout for everyone who didn't have Valentine's day plans or something, though. Both bars in the place were full, so I ended up having to just grab a booth by myself and eat in a very conspicuous way...and not meet anyone new. Oh well...I got a big greasy burger, plate of fries and a margarita...soooo worth it. And you'll be happy to know, they didn't screw up my order at all (although, even if they had, I would've completely forgiven them for it b/c this place is too good to miss).

After dinner, I came home, relaxed on the couch, read some blogs, chatted with some bloggers and watched some Donny Deutsch (I'm a dork...I know) and took some Aleeve for the pain in my knee which seems to follow every run these days (I think I need new shoes). Tomorrow my bosses are out of town so it'll just be me in the office. I have a little bit of stuff to do, but I should knock it out pretty quickly and will start my weekend early! Yay!

Anyway...thanks for reading, don't know what caused the spike in hits, but hopefully you like the blog and will be back! Of course, with all these people reading, that may mean I need to post more frequently...and about more exciting topics. Hmmmm.....

Seriously...Only Mark!!

I come from a clumsy family...it's no secret. There was, for instance, the time my aunt (who is a well-educated high school principal, no less) super-glued her finger to her forehead...no lie. There are countless other stories I can't remember right now, but it's clear that I too have inherited that gene.

Yesterday I tore up my thumb a bit, basically ripping my cuticle off. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a terribly impressive injury and I doubt I'll be significantly handicapped by it, but what makes it so uniquely Mark is how it happened.

We had beautiful weather here yesterday and, for once, I actually had a completely free afternoon, so I decided it'd be a great opportunity to get out and try to rake up some leaves in my backyard. I know what you're thinking...

"Mark, did you seriously injure yourself raking leaves? I mean what's so dangerous about that...wow, you are clumsy!"

But oh no, I only wish it were something as great as that...maybe a horrible incident with the prongs of the rake or a rogue stick jumping out of the leaf pile into my skin. Nope.

While raking, I decided it was also a good opportunity to try to tear down part of the ugly chain-link fence in my backyard. The fence was half falling down anyway, and will eventually get replaced with a real fence, so I figured, why keep making myself look at the eyesore. I hear you now...

"Ahh, so while taking apart the fence you cut yourself on the metal? The wrench slipped or something? That's not so bad...we've all done something like that."

Oh hardly!

Trying to remove some of the fence posts, I was having great difficulty. Not only are these things buried with cement poured around them, but a couple of them were placed right next to a large old oak tree (hence the reason I had to rake) and it seems the roots have grown all around these posts. So, I decided it was time for me to go buy that pick axe I've been meaning to get and just chop up the roots some. Thus, I headed down to the Home Depot. This is where the injury occurred.

"Wow, Mark...you got injured at Home Depot? What did you do, cut yourself on a saw blade? have a light fixture come crashing out of the ceiling at you? have one of those cans of paint in the mixing machine come flying out at you at 60 miles per hour? I mean...that is kinda clumsy, hahaha!"

Oh silly blog readers...you've learned nothing, have you.

No, my injury happened in the parking lot...before I even got into the store. How? By running into the car next to me...while walking. Yep! I was looking at something on my car while walking into the store and turned around only to find that I was a split second away from running into the truck next to me. Well, not so much the truck, as the large stack of particle board he had hanging 3 or 4 feet out of the bed of his truck. My natural reaction was to throw my hands up to protect my chest from the impact, but, in so doing, I just managed to run my thumb along the rough edge of the board and still smacked into it. So graceful!!

I got in the store and stopped at the front desk to ask for a band-aid. When I first walked in, it wasn't bleeding yet, but by the time the lady found a band-aid behind the counter it was. Rather profusely at that. Apparently when you rip off a cuticle the blood starts flowing rather well. I asked her for a tissue or something to mop up the blood and she found one of those little anti-septic 'wet naps'. After a short minute or so, that thing was pretty much saturated and she ran off to go find some more. She brought me out 2 or 3 more which also quickly turned red. haha I suggested we just go ahead and throw the band-aid on there in an effort to stop the bleeding and call it a day. Of course, once she saw how much I was bleeding she asked "Gosh, what happened?" To which I had to sheepishly look at her and admit "I walked into the car next to me in the parking lot." Actually...in an effort to save face I started to explain about the particle board hanging out of the bed, etc, but decided that didn't really help my case much, so I just hung my head low and mopped up the blood.

People get hurt everyday...but only I would do it in such a unique way...ugh!!

I swear the restaurant mafia is out to get me!

I have a standing lunch date with a friend of mine for the first Tuesday of every month (except we've been lazy lately so we missed the last 3 or 4 months) and today was that day. I picked her up at her office and she asks how I feel about having breakfast for lunch, as she's been craving some good breakfast food, but her boyfriend won't go eat it with her. I didn't really care where we went so we headed over to IHOP for a little mid-day breakfast.

I should mention that this is one of those friends that I get along so great with b/c when we're together we normally just sit around and throw sarcastic comments back and forth the whole time! Plus we have one of those wonderful relationships with few boundaries that we just really speak our minds to each other all the time too. It works out well for us, but when we're together we do sometimes have a bad habit of talking about people around us (oops).

So our waitress comes up to take our order and my friend orders the Vive la French Toast. I wasn't really listening to her order, but she made some special request that something be put on the side, rather than on top of the toast. Our waitress, in her broken English, asks my friend if she wants her scrambled egg on the side too. Sarcastic Friend (we'll call her that...at least for now) kinda looks at the waitress puzzled and says "Doesn't the egg normally come on the side?" The waitress tells us "No, it comes on the French Toast." Of course, Sarcastic Friend and I exchange very confused glances and she clarifies again "So the French Toast comes with scrambled eggs as a topping?" Anyway, this went on for a little bit longer and we both were just sitting there looking really confused at the waitress, not understanding why scrambled eggs are served on toast and not as a separate item. It was truly a very odd exchange...but not the point of this post, so I'll move on.

When it comes to my turn to order, I order Strawberry Banana French Toast with a side of hash browns. The waitress brings out our orders and I'm initially overwhelmed by the amount of whipped cream and strawberries and other items on top of my entree. Sarcastic friend notes that I might need some insulin at the end of that meal. I was about to dig in to my french toast when I realize...wait...this French Toast is round...and rather flat. Much like a pancake! Yeah...the waitress definitely did not bring me what I ordered, but instead brought me a big 'ol stack of pancakes with various toppings (fortunately, no scrambled eggs as toppings, though).

Even though I had kinda got my stomach all excited about some French Toast, I decided that, in light of my previous incidences with restaurants this week that I wouldn't push my luck and would settle for the pancakes. About halfway through my pancakes, though, I realize further that these pancakes don't just have fruits and sugar on top of them, but they're actually cooked with bananas in the batter. Yeah...there little slices of banana cooked into my pancakes. Ewwww! It just wasn't very good at all. I really only made it about halfway through that meal.

Honestly, I don't know what it is about restaurants here! I seriously am going to have to eat at home until this whole thing blows over I think. Oh well...they say bad things happen in threes, right? Maybe that means I'm done now! Ugh!!

PS - I called Ruby Tuesday's Corporate office to file a complaint about the horrible service the other day. They took the message, told me they'd pass it along to the District Manager and that he'd be giving me a call to discuss the issue. On Monday afternoon I got a voicemail regarding the matter...from no other than Manager Mike!! I couldn't even listen to his voicemail I was so infuriated. I mean I gave this guy a chance to fix the problem when it happened and he didn't effectively handle the situation then, so why would I want to hash it out over the phone with him now. Not to mention...if he's the one I'm complaining about, why would his DM think it's a good idea for me to talk to him again? Doesn't it only make sense that you should talk to the supervisor of the person you're making a complaint against, not the person themselves? I called the corporate number back today and left them a voicemail informing them that I would not be calling Manager Mike back, that I was done dealing with him and requested that his supervisor contact me, not him. We'll see how this goes! Grrr!

Continuation on a theme...

In an effort to not sound snobby or pushy or rude or whatever, I ordinarily wouldn't write this post, but in light of my last post, it seems only appropriate.

After work tonight, I had a meeting to go to with my boss so he and I stopped for dinner on the way. We couldn't decide on anything on that side of town, so we ended up at Ruby Tuesdays. I don't ordinarily care for Ruby Tuesdays that much, but we both agreed that it's better than Applebee's, which was our next best option, so we went. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so at my boss's suggestion, I ordered the Triple Prime Cheeseburger.

I should also add, that our server was a little strange to begin with. He was one of those guys that just seemed really nervous and even a bit shy. It's fine if that's your personality, but perhaps food service isn't the best employment choice for you. I typically expect wait staff to be very personable and friendly and to really make you feel like they're happy to serve you, not like they're afraid to speak to you. Anyway...

Like I always do with beef products, I ordered my burger medium rare. Say what you want, but cooking meat anything beyond medium just sucks all the flavor right out of it! When the burgers come, my boss and I both comment on the lack of condiments they bring us. For an entire plate of fries and a burger we were each given half a ramekin of ketchup and there was about a drop of mayonnaise on each burger (I know, too bad I didn't have any of that taco sauce with me, but that's not the point), so we sent him off into the kitchen to get us more.

While he was gone, I took a big bite into my burger and noticed it tasted a little funny. In actuality, it tasted...mushy. My first thought was that the bread must have absorbed some of the grease/juices from the meat and got soggy. I lifted the bun off, however, and looked at my bite to see a very bright pink burger. I kinda pulled the burger apart and saw that the whole thing was completely raw inside!!! I immediately announced "Oh my gosh...this is raw!!" (and not very quietly at that) When I said this, another server happened to be walking by and she just kinda ignored me and kept walking. I kept looking at the kitchen door waiting for our server to come back with the ketchup so I could complain to him, but he was taking too long. There was another guy walking by (I think he was a host or bus boy or something) so I grabbed him and said, "Excuse me, you need to get a manager over here please." (haha, you'll all remember my short temperament for poor service.)

He told me "Sure, is there a problem?" So I showed him my burger and told him that it was uncooked, so he took the plate off to his manager. A minute or so later, some guy comes walking around the corner with my plate in hand and introduces himself. It went something like this:

Mgr. Mike: Hi, my name is Mike and I'm the manager here. How are you gentlemen doing tonight?
Me: Uhhhh....well.... (looking down at the empty table in front of me and the raw meat in his hand)
Mgr. Mike: Ok, well how did you request this to be cooked. (before this statement there's a very slight chance he may have thrown out a flippant apology, but I'm not entirely sure because his tone and actions were anything but apologetic)
Me: Medium Rare (thinking..."If you dare try to tell me that that is medium rare or that anything cooked below medium will in fact come out a bit pink, assuming that's normal, I swear I'll go all Madea (video here) up in here!") (PS--That's for you, K!)
Mgr. Mike: Alright, well I'll take this back and have them make you a new one. [Starts to walk away]
Me: (Looking at the time on my phone) Well excuse me, I have to be somewhere in 15 minutes, I don't think I have time to just sit here and wait for you to cook a whole new meal.
Mgr. Mike: (With a strong amount of attitude) Well...do you want me to have them make you something else?
Me: (Looking around to see if there was a menu anywhere, since one was very clearly not offered.) Uhhh, welll...I guess not. I guess I'll have to have another one of those, but they'd better make it fast, I can't sit here all night.
Mgr. Mike: I'll have them make you another.
Me: Make sure it's fast!

{Skip to 8 minutes later}

Server comes out and awkwardly sets a new plate down in front of me and nervously stands there without saying a word. I kinda picked at a piece of the meat to see if it was edible.
Server: (Sheepishly) So, ummm...Is this one okay for you?
Me: Hmm, well, yes, I think this will be fine.
Server: Okay. (slowly walks away)
Me: So, are you going to comp this meal for me or what?
Server: (Still sheepish) Oh, umm, he said he'd give you a discount on it.
Me: Fine.

Please note that through this entire exchange, no one once offered an apology for the mistake or has acted apologetically at all!! They really seemed more annoyed that I requested my meat to be cooked!

So now I eat my burger in a big hurry b/c we're late for our meeting (which I knew we were going to be a little late to anyway, but now we're really late) and it really wasn't all that good. In truth, half of the burger was still slightly undercooked, but it didn't seem to have quite the same e. coli risk, so I ate it anyway. When our server brought the bill out, I looked to see what the "discount" was that they so graciously gave me. All they did was apply the employee discount (40%) to my burger. Not to the entire check, not even to my sweet tea....just the burger. Grrrrr!!!

At this point I was so annoyed it wasn't even funny. If I didn't have to run out of there to get to my meeting, I really would've hung around and at least insisted that the meal be free, but I didn't have the time or energy to throw down right then. I'll just call corporate in the morning, hahaha.

Please don't misunderstand me here either...while I was annoyed that I took a bite out of raw meat, I do understand that mistakes can happen, especially in a kitchen. Honestly, I probably would have been okay with the whole thing if the manager came out and profusely apologized, offered me the discount or comped the meal or whatever, and if the server had apologized. I know neither of them was anywhere near the grill at the time, but in a service atmosphere, that's your role. But neither of them seemed to care...in fact the manager seemed annoyed that he had to come out of his office and speak to one of the 7 customers who were in the restaurant at the time (heaven forbid!). I gave the waiter a 10% tip for that one...and those of you who currently or previously worked in food service...don't yell at me! I'm normally at least a 20% tipper and only if the service is particularly bad do I give a 15%. I NEVER give below that. But tonight, I was so annoyed that he didn't even at least pretend to apologize there was no way I could give 15%. A simple "I'm so sorry about that" at any point in the evening would have at least earned him that much.

Anyway, like I said, in light of my last post, I thought I'd just add this one on as a part two. It looks like I'm running out of places to go eat around here. Maybe one of these days I'm gonna have to learn how to cook! Ack! Nevermind...I'll just get a girlfriend who likes to cook...or hire a personal chef...or both :)

Wasteful

Busy day at work today. I spent all afternoon getting ready for something I had to do with work tonight. So, in all my rushing around, I ran through the Taco Bell Drive Thru (I recognize that's not the proper spelling of that word, but that's what the sign calls it...don't blame me!) to grab a quick dinner. In my bag, I found that I received no fewer than 31 packets of sauce for my 3 (three) soft tacos!

Seriously?!? Did that guy think there was anyway possible that I could even try to use 10 packets of sauce per taco? Little wasteful things like this (due to the laziness/lackadaisical attitudes of people) really annoys me for some reason. I mean, is it really that much effort to care about little things?! Arrgh!

Rejected!

I wanted to add one more quick post before heading to bed...

Remember this post about my lack of fingerprints? Well, I finally got a notice in the mail from the state yesterday telling me that my finger print card had been rejected due to "ridge characteristics being not distinct or smudged." So now it seems it's official that my fingerprints are crap! haha I guess I'm gonna have to go get them printed again, but I don't know that we can expect different results. I mean, we tried at least 3 times the first go-round and I haven't exactly grown new fingers since then! I've left a voicemail for the person at the state to see if there was another way this could be done, instead of just submitting more bad fingerprints, but I doubt it.

Oh yeah...also in the mail yesterday I got a postcard saying there was a recall on my car, haha. I called the dealership today to learn that it was a false alarm (as though there's much left on my car that's original anyway) and apparently just some marketing push Nissan used to get people to try to schedule a service or something. He did ask how the car's doing (he and I are on a first name basis, remember?). I told him that the check engine light is still coming on and off constantly and that there's a loose wire in radio again, as the subwoofer keeps coming and going (reaaalllly annoying when you're listening to something like this and your bass goes out! Not cool!). I told him I just haven't had the time (or the patience, honestly) to take it up there again, but hopefully I'll make it soon. What fun!

So I finally decided...

For some reason, someone somewhere thought that it would be a good idea to give us lowly South Carolinians great deal of sway in who our presidential nominees will be. I know, crazy right? Oh well, as a Democrat in this deeply red state, I certainly do appreciate the voice, since, other than the most local of elections (I live in a Democratic city and county, thank God!) a Dem's vote doesn't really count for much around here. We just cast our votes out of formality, but still expect to lose every election by 10 points or more. Not this time...we actually count, suckas! (Sadly the same cannot be said for my poor parents back home in FL. Yeah...Florida got stripped of it's voting privileges at the Democratic National Convention. That'll teach them to try to upstage SC! haha)

Anyway, I'm kinda a closeted political junkie...especially on more local issues, since my vote doesn't normally count on national ones...so I've been watching what's been going on for the last year just sorta taking it all in. As of last week, I still was torn between Clinton & Obama for who'd get my vote. (Sorry Edwards, I like ya, but the you're not getting the nomination and I'm not wasting my one chance at having a vote count. Be nice to people and maybe you'll stand a shot at VP.) I was back and forth and back and forth and generally remained non-committal. Since our primary is this Saturday, I finally decided that last week I needed to sit myself down and make a decision. Here's what I came up with...

Yep, that's my car. (My mom commented..."You put a sticker on your car?" knowing how anal retentive I am...I reassured her it was only on the window for easy removal.) And yes, I decided to go with Barack, that Muslim, anti-Pledge of Allegiance radical...(haha! Just kidding. I just read this post and it made me laugh. If anyone still believes stupid e-mails like this floating around then I guess they're just morons...or grossly under-informed.)

So I know what you're all asking..."Why Obama, Mark? Does it have anything to do with Oprah coming to stump for him in SC? Because you know if Oprah says it, then it must be right!" haha, actually more of you are probably saying "What took you so long, I was behind him looong ago!" Anyway, I sat myself down, went on their respective websites and decided that in all honesty, I noticed and expect very little policy difference between the two camps. They're both promising health care, ending the war, and (now) Change! I'd expect little else out of them, as those are some of the primary reasons I am a Democrat. So then I had to go to the next level and look at the people themselves. I think we all agree that's the area where Barack really shines.

Basically, it came down to this for me...Hilary Clinton, while she is very driven and dedicated and probably has a bigger set of balls than anyone else running, is far too polarizing of a figure right now. Primarily, even if she got the party's nomination, I really think most of the Republicans would vote for anyone else but her, so there'd be very little crossover vote. Secondly, if she were by some divine occurrence to get elected as President, her polarity would not help much with Congress. They'd still be bickering and fighting and get no where just the way they are now. Don't get me wrong, I still expect Republicans to act outraged and try to play hardball for any Democratic president (as I would expect from the Dems in the opposite situation), but I expect that Barack is better able to overcome that showmanship to actually get policy passed. He also would be able to play better on the global spectrum to improve our standing with other countries. I think what America needs more than anything right now is to be hopeful and trusting of our government once again, and that's something I think Barack brings to the table. Unfortunately, Hillary Clinton is one of those people that you either love or hate...and too many people fall in the latter category.

With that decision being made...I went out and got the bumper sticker above (they were out of yard signs) and registered to attend a rally Sen. Obama was having downtown on Sunday. I'll post a couple pictures below, but my digital camera is not of the highest quality, so it's tough to see. This was the first actual political rally I've been able to attend this go-round and, therefore, the first time I got to hear Barack in person. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. Most of the time he was speaking, he actually seemed to be sorta tripping over his words and a little unsure of what he was saying. Granted, I didn't see any notes or prepared speeches on his podium, so I applaud him for speaking off the cuff, but it wasn't like the polished sound bites I was used to hearing. I'm also sure that part of it had is due to the fact that he's been on the road for a year speaking about 700 times! haha I imagine he's a bit exhausted! He definitely has perfected his general inspiration closing portion about "Hope" etc., I guess he's said that one a time or two before. lol Otherwise, it was the general last minute rah-rah kind of rally you'd expect the week before the election. Glad I went...saw my boss there too, haha. Anyway...here are some pics!





Requisite Gospel Choir performing to open us up. Gotta love SC! haha







The Barack Obama Junior Fan Club, haha. The shirt says "Obama, Oh Baby!"





Crowd shot. Probably about 3,000-4,000 people there I would guess.






Our next President addressing the crowd. (might need to blow up the picture to see him, haha)

Ugh...I was totally cruised...Jim McGreevey Style!

A couple weeks ago I decided to run down to Charleston to visit a friend. I haven't blogged about it yet and probably won't get around to it beyond this, so I'll give a brief run down now. Don't worry...I'll tell the part about getting cruised too...I know that's all you people care about anyway, freaks! :) You can just skip down there now if you want...it won't hurt my feelings, hahaha!

The weekend was a good time and a much needed escape for both me and my friend. It was kinda a last minute trip, so I didn't get in until really late on Friday night. Didn't do much then other than go to the friend's house, hang out for a bit and go to bed.

Saturday we slept in a bit, ran across town for some lunch and minor stalking. haha! Seriously, this is how random I am...especially when I get with this friend. We walk out of the restaurant and on the way to the car she says "Oh, while we're over here let's go do a little stalking," to which I replied very non-chalantly "Ok, sounds good." hahahaha This friend lived across the hall from me freshman year of college and we used to do all kinds of random crap like that...until she moved back to Charleston last May...grrr!! Anyway, I'd hardly call what we did stalking anyway...I'm a much more sophisticated stalker than that. We actually just rode by where her ex-bf worked to see if his new car was out there. After that, we rolled back into downtown and walked up and down King Street and did a bit of shopping. She took me down by the Market and we walked by her favorite wine bar. Fortunately for us, as we walked by I happened to notice that they opened at 4:00 and it was now 4:15...perfect time to start drinking!!!

We went in, grabbed a glass of wine, did some people watching (these girls came in and sat next to us that had all kinds of piercings...it was gross) and relaxed a bit. Later that night, we picked up a couple of her friends (sooo fun!!) and headed over to someone else's house who was having a wine party. We made an appearance there, had some wine, I had a sword fight in the living room with one of the friends (apparently the swords were decorative, but we used them as weapons) and rolled out. We headed back across town to a little bar on the beach to hear some 80's cover band that they all loved. I had about 3 more margaritas during this time and we had a really good time. The place didn't have a big crowd, but it was about 26 degrees that night, so I guess everyone was hibernating. I was screaming out Bon Jovi lyrics all night and lost my voice for a few days after that, but it was all good.

Slept in again Sunday morning, got some lunch, then drove across town to the BMW dealership to look at cars/possibly test drive them. Yeah...I've got her to become nearly as obsessed with them as I am and we'll both likely be purchasing them for our next cars. She'll probably be looking in the next 6 months or so, so we were justified in test driving, haha. Unfortunately, the dealership was closed on Sundays (I HATE it when dealerships close on Sundays). I just went home after that. It was a good weekend.

Okay...onto the CRUISING
Yeah, so I'm driving into Charleston on Friday, and, like I said, it was late at night. I get to the Charleston area at about 1:30 am and really had to go to the bathroom. My friend lives on the opposite side of town so I knew I had at least half an hour left to go and didn't know how many gas stations would still be open at that time of night, so I just pulled into a rest area right outside of town. When I pulled in, there was just one other car there and that belonged to a guy who was waiting outside for his girlfriend. I went into the rest area, did my business and walked back to the car.

As I'm walking back, this truck pulls up and parks in the spot right next to mine. I thought it was a little odd, but just figured he wanted to be closer to the sidewalk or something so I just ignored it. Got back into my car and cranked it up to get the heat running again and started looking around for the directions to my friends house. When I was looking around, I glanced out my passenger window and realized this guy was still sitting in his truck...staring at me...with his window down (it was 24 degrees at the time!)!! What's worse, when I glanced over there, he gave me one of those head nods to say "Sup?" or something. I just kinda gave him a funny look and went back to reading my directions. Mind you...I have pretty dark tinted windows on my car, so he had to be staring hard core to even realize I had looked in that direction. As I'm reading my directions, I'm very much aware that he is STILL sitting in his car...clearly not trying to get out and use the bathroom! When I'm done with my directions (it's been about a minute or two by now) the other couple backs out of their parking space down the row and I decide it's time to go (I'm not gonna be left alone with this guy!). I put the car in reverse look behind me out the passenger side again to back up. And again, he's still staring, still has the window down and gives me another head nod! Seriously buddy? What!? I just back out and start to drive off. Of course, I'm watching him in the rear view mirror as I leave to see what his next move is. Sure enough, he just puts the truck in reverse and leaves the rest area! Yeah...he was definitely just there trying to get all Jim McGreevey on me!

Okay, seriously now, people! Is this somehow okay in some people's minds? I mean of all the gay guys I know...I don't think any of them are the type of people who would go to a rest area looking for sex!? (Granted, I've never met Larry Craig or Bob Allen, but still.) I know I'd certainly never go there looking for a woman...and even if I accidentally found one there...I don't think I'd want to keep one that was willing to have rest area sex. To all my friendly gay readers (and maybe even the unfriendly gay readers, if you're out there), please let me know...is this acceptable in the gay underworld that I don't know about? haha I mean...of all the ways men have tried to pick me up...this is among the skeeziest. Granted...this guy did appear to be under 30 (although fat) and he didn't appear to be homeless...so it's definitely not the skeeziest pick-up I've ever had attempted on me(hahaha...someone remind me to blog about "Man-Fun Guy" and "Homeless Man" sometime...funny stories!) but still! I'm just glad he didn't pull up 3 minutes earlier when I was still standing at the urinal! There definitely would have been some of this action, haha!!

Cruised at a rest area outside of Charleston at 1:30 am...haha...Who else, but me?! Oh Lord!

10(ish) Random Facts about Mark

I've seen other bloggers do lists of this nature and I always find them fun. Sorta lets you know random information about the people you're reading about that might not regularly come up in blog posts or conversation. I'm saying 10 things b/c that sounds like a good goal, but I really have no idea how many I'll end up with, so don't hold me to that. It just depends on how random I really want to get. Enjoy!

1. I was a junior in high school before I ever saw it snowing and a senior before I saw it stuck to the ground. (To be fair, I know I did at least see it on the ground once when I was like two, but I don't remember that at all, so I don't count it).
2. Pretty much every night before bed I turn on the music channels my cable company gives me (yeah...I'm the one guy who uses those). I pretty much always turn it to the "Singers & Standards" channel and listen to the old Sinatra songs, Billie Holiday, Ella, Louie Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Bobby Darrin, Vic Damone and others, as well as people covering their songs later--except when they play Johnny Mathis songs on here...I ALWAYS change it immediately. I can't stand him. Otherwise, the station helps me relax and unwind before bed.
3. I have rather varied music tastes, depending on the mood. In addition to the aforementioned standards, I like everything from early 90's love ballads (actually...I secretly LOVE these) to old school hip hop to the latest rap and even some country (especially from the 80's & 90's). Oh and I love old soul stuff too...like Aretha and Ray Charles, etc. Pretty much the only thing I can never get into is rock music (metal, emo, soft rock, pop rock, whatever...it just doesn't do it for me).
4. I really enjoy eating, but do not like cooking. There's probably only about 4 different dishes I make that don't start out in the freezer...and even those 4 don't require more than a few steps to prepare.
5. I'm not particularly a pet person, but I'll probably end up getting a small to mid-sized dog before too terribly long just to have some company. Especially if I don't get a girlfriend soon! :(
6. I have rather random sleep patterns. Some nights I can sleep like 3 hours and other nights I can be in bed for 14+ hours and I usually wake up feeling the same. Also, when I sleep I go straight into a very deep heavy sleep meaning I almost never remember dreams, I don't move AT ALL when I sleep, and have a very difficult time coming out of a sleep. When I was younger this used to drive my parents crazy...I even slept straight through a tornado that spun off a tropical storm which knocked a huge oak tree down less than 10 feet from my bedroom window. I woke up having no idea it even rained. It's possible that I have a form of narcolepsy which causes this, but it remains undiagnosed as I've not bothered to get a sleep test done.
7. I have a new mattress ordered. Maybe this will help alleviate #6 and let me sleep a little better.
8. I used to be a rather picky eater. Up until about 2 years ago I had a strict rule against eating anything that smelled bad. This included seafood and anything from the continent of Asia. I've expanded my horizons and actually quite enjoy fish now and will eat a bit of well prepared, high quality Chinese food (aka - no Chinese buffets!). Much other Asian cuisine is still off limits. I also don't like very spicy things.
   
9. I'm a car nut. When I was a kid, the only toys I ever wanted to play with were little Hot Wheels & Matchbox cars. I literally had hundreds of them and knew each and every one. Every time I'd get a dollar for something I'd save it until we went to Wal-Mart and I'd pick out a new car. They cost 73 cents plus 4 cents tax. I have no idea what I ever did with the remaining 23 cents. To this day, I am still obsessed with cars and love driving. When it's a bit warmer, I wash my car at least once a week (I've been slacking a bit lately) and the inside is always immaculate. I usually drive a minimum of 20,000 miles a year just around town and on random road trips. My favorite cars are BMW's and my next car will be one. You don't even want to hear my dream pimped out BMW...that's just stupid! :)
10. I was in the Boy Scouts from 1st grade until 12th (although I really didn't do anything with them for most of high school). I became an Eagle Scout when I was 18. I also was in the band for 6 years but quit before my senior year b/c it wasn't very fun to me...and I thought most of the people in it were weird and it was not the best for my social standing. I was student body Vice President my senior year instead.
11. I'm one of those people who, when he finds something he likes at a restaurant, will continue to order the same thing every time without ever wanting to try other dishes. For example...Crusted Chicken Romano at the Cheesecake Factory! MMMMMMMM
12. Although the Cheesecake factory is my favorite restaurant, I've never lived in a city for more than 2 months that actually had one. I've eaten at them in at least 7 or 8 different locations and the current one is more than 85 miles from my house. I've driven up there before just for dinner and then come straight home.
13. When I was a kid my family had a pop-up camper that we would go camping in all the time. On one of these trips when I was about 3 years old I woke my parents up in the middle of the night bawling because my sister kept stealing the sheets and kicking me in her sleep. I never had to share a bed with her on a family vacation since then.
14. On another camping trip when I was around the same age, I was sitting on a sea wall fishing into Tampa Bay. I cast my pole and fell head first into the bay (it was only about a 2 foot high wall and about 1-2 feet of water, don't worry). Before resurfacing to find my sister laughing at me (knowing her, she probably pushed me), I somehow managed to grab two small fish in my hands. That is my first memory (and my first fish!) I was the only one who caught anything on that trip.

Well, I think 14 is enough information for now. This was kinda fun though. Remind me and I'll do it again sometime. Or, someone could just send me one of those random questionnaires and I'll repost it on the blog. But let me catch up on all my current posts first! :)

Year in Review

I started writing a year in review post about two weeks ago. I got about half way through it and realized that I didn't want to write all that and you probably didn't want to read it all. It was kinda turning into a venting post about a lot of things that frankly I didn't want to rehash! haha Soooooo...I scrapped it and will now give you the very very abridged version. If you really care and want more details, you can always e-mail or IM me...I'll oblige you.

So here's the short version:

2007 SUCKED and I'm very glad it's over. I've decided I'll settle for no less than a MIND-BLOWING 2008.

Okay, so you might want a little more than that. I'll give you a brief rundown of why it sucked and, in the spirit of optimism, try to add a little anecdote to find something positive as a result. Here goes!

• Crappy part:I started out the year losing my old job. What a great way to kick off a new year filled with hope and promise! Keep in mind this came no less than 4 months after purchasing my first home! Nothing like new bills and no income to pay for them. Optimism: I actually kinda hated that job anyway. I hadn't been happy for about 8 months and was already planning my escape route for the coming months...just didn't see it all going down like that. Oh, and as for the house...good thing I had some common sense when I was shopping and actually bought something with a manageable monthly payment, rather than trying to stretch myself!
  
• Crappy part: I decided on a new career field I wanted to break into, but couldn't get hired in it for anything. Everyone loved me but said I was overqualified for the entry level position, but wouldn't hire me for anything else without experience having done the entry level position. Optimism: I had a lot of time to read and learn important stuff. It also forced me to think 'outside of the box' as far as my plans for my life. This thinking is setting me up for a whole new avenue.
• Crappy part: In an act of desperation, I took a part time retail job, previously referred to as job #2. It was pretty much a horrible place to work and I hated almost every day of it. And the crappy hours they made me work greatly stunted my social life, which was one of the last things keeping me sane through the rest of the turmoil. Optimism: My mortgage continued to be paid. Oh, and I did get a nice pair of designer jeans and a bottle of good smelling cologne for free from them (no...I didn't steal them!).
• Not so Crappy part: I began working part time for a small company doing a job that I was really excited about and was a great combination of all the things I was looking for in a job. Crappier part: Being small, the company couldn't afford me full time, or really even to pay a great wage part time, so I had to stay at job #2. Also...we've been through a lot of turmoil on that job just through circumstances that we (my bosses or I) couldn't really directly control. This means that a lot of the promises made to me at hiring and plans/goals we had for the company have yet to come to pass. Not really what I signed up for!
• Sorta-Crappy part: The small, independent company I started working for transitioned into a national company to help us out a bit. This has meant a lot more work for me moving things over (and that still continues) and a bit of instability/turmoil during the entire transition. Upside: The national model allows us the structure we need to get our company back going again and the tools to be more successful than ever. Also, it allows opportunity to do stuff on my own which sets me up to make a TON more money than ever before (even at the crappy old job) and some long term stability and happiness. This opportunity just requires more work than I ever anticipated and was probably one of the last things I would have thought I'd be doing at the beginning of the year, but...all that learning and out of the box thinking at the beginning of the year prepared me for this, even when I didn't know it was coming.

Those are the major highlights...add on top of that all the car issues (and here, and here, among other things...and the check engine light is STILL on!) I went through, having the air conditioner on my house checked out and over $1000 worth of repairs being done to it, and a few other not so minor frustrations. Oh, but at least I started running, and a blog!

Anyway, to sum it up, I started the year off with a major blow and spent the rest of the year desperately trying to get back on my feet. So far it hasn't happened and, from the outside, it looks like I ended my year in a much worse position than I started it. I know, however, that I'm actually in a better position now than ever before as far as how much potential and opportunity I'm sitting on...I just need it all to manifest! I've never been more excited for one year to end and another to begin in my life!

So here's to a MIND-BLOWING 2008!!!!

Well hey there, kiddos!

It's been a really really long time since I posted last!!! Yikes! (haha...while writing this, I just re-read this post. Guess I sorta lied to ya! oops!) I could give you a number of excuses for this (I was sick for the better part of last week, work has been hectic, I've been out of town some) but all in all it really boils down to...I've been a lazy blogger! (*Hangs his head in shame*) I know, I know...it's a horrible thing to admit. I think it's just kinda that time of year when everyone is over the New Year's hype and has begun trying to settle back into post holiday life.

Speaking of New Year's hype...I know there's much anticipation for my much storied Year-in-Review Post. A revised post will be going up tonight. Actually...like all good bloggers, I've been writing blog posts in my head during this whole little hiatus, but I just haven't actually sat down to put them in the computer. How sad is that? I should churn out a few quick ones tonight and will hopefully get to a couple more tomorrow night...just to get them out of my head! Ahh!

Oh yeah...in other news...it started snowing on my drive home this evening! It was a really wet snow that melted as soon as it hit the ground or cars or whatever. Then it became sleet...now it's just raining. Gotta love SC's "winter weather." I'm actually surprised they didn't try to shut down the whole state for this sorta thing. The governor we had when I first moved here closed the state at even the suggestion of cold weather! haha Even as a newly transplanted Floridian who's idea of cold weather meant any morning you could actually see your breath I knew that was over reacting a bit. Oh well!

Oooh, one last thing. I'm going out of town again this weekend. The neighbor called this morning and is getting a group of people together to head down to the beach for the holiday weekend. No no...there won't be string bikini's and golden tans...it'll actually be in the low 40's during the day and 20's at night. But, we were able to get a cheap suite at a hotel down there because of it, so it will just be a fun getaway. Knowing the neighbors and the other people invited, we'll probably just drink a lot (read--they'll try to get me drunk since it doesn't happen very often...I tend to hold my liquor well), sit around talking smack about people we went to college with and play lots of Apples to Apples. And by lots....I mean HOURS on end (it gets boring, but we always customize the game to include ways to talk smack about people we went to college with...if you've ever played, all the "make your own noun" cards become someone we know...very entertaining!). I tell you this mainly to let you know that whatever I don't get posted by tomorrow night will likely not get posted until after the weekend sometime. Sorry!