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Illinois is Closed!

// June 29th, 2007 // 2 Comments » // Brad's Life, Springfield, Travel

Haha, I fully expect to see this sign as I drive back to Illinois from Indy after work tonight.  Thanks for the forward, Raymond!

For you Hoosiers:

Illinois approves 31-day budget

Hynes: Problems would start July 9 with no budget

Amtrak going out of business

// June 29th, 2007 // 2 Comments » // Travel

Amtrak is going out of business. Is there a press release? No.  I just have a hunch.  A hunch that they are going to get their pants sued off (no, not like that asshat lawyer who sued for $67 million because a drycleaner lost his pants.  Don’t even get me started on that, I’ve deleted a post on it twice because it would not reflect on me well to say what I want to say about him. )

http://www.kpho.com/news/13586605/detail.html 

They think man is drunk, but he’s going into diabetic shock.  So what do they do?

“He was let off in the middle of a national forest, which is about 800,000 acres of beautiful pine trees,” Lt. Mike Graham said.

Wow.

iPhone comes out tomorrow

// June 28th, 2007 // No Comments » // Brad's Life, Indianapolis, Mac, Technology

If you’re saying to yourself “The iPhone comes out tomorrow and Brad hasn’t even mentioned it lately?!?!”, you’re not the only one that’s surprised.  I’m typically an early adopter.  DSL Internet in 1996. Got my first digital camera in 1998.   Had a Palm Pilot my freshman year of high school, 1999.   I love technology, and I love having technology.

With that being said, I’m surprising myself that I am not getting an iPhone tomorrow.  There are many reasons that are making me sit this initial release out though.  When I first heard about the iPhone many many months ago, I was seriously pumped.   Then the facts started coming out:  only 8gb, $599, 2 year contract, no 3G on it, no Flash, no camera, and many other limitations.

Will I have one within a few years? Yes.  Will this phone revolutionize the cell phone market? Yes.  (If you disagree, stop reading now.)  The iPhone will do the same thing for cell phones that the iPod did for the mp3 player.  (Did I mention that my first MP3 player was 64mb andI got it in 2000?) Accessories will come.  3rd party apps will come. 3g (or 4g?) will come.  More GB will come.  Price will drop.  Bugs will be fixed.  And at that point, I will have an iPhone in my pocket.

On the other hand….. Paycheck tomorrow……….. Wife’s outta town……… Apple store 5 miles down the road………

Nah.

Twosouth Thursday: 100% Pasteurized

// June 28th, 2007 // No Comments » // Brad's Life, Springfield, Twosouth Thursday, UIS

Twosouth Thursday Episode #5: 100% Pasteurized

This impromptu challenge left 5 guys feeling pretty sick. Matt, John K., John M., Bob, and TJ headed to Meijer to pick up their gallon of milk, and we set up several trashcans, along with some preventative carpet covering.

When it was all said and done, TJ remained and finished his gallon as the seconds ticked down to the hour mark. Sources say he later vomited many times, voiding the championship.

**Vomit Warning** Enjoy!

My 1st Wedding, and Camera Upgrade

// June 27th, 2007 // 1 Comment » // Brad's Life, Photography, Springfield, Weddings

Got my first wedding under the belt this past weekend. The photography belt, that is. Jen’s dad, myself, and Jeremy Nelson covered the Jacobs/Johnson wedding at Cherry Hills in Springfield, and it was great. Such a good family to work with! Everything was excellent. We were thrown for a loop when we found out [...]

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HR woes continued

// June 27th, 2007 // 1 Comment » // Brad's Life, Springfield, UIS

For previous story, see this post.

It really isn’t an error that if you go to the UIS Human Resources page and click on ‘Organization’ at the top, there is nothing there.  Why have an ‘Organization’ page when there is absolutely no organization whatsoever in your department?

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Ironic Moment of the Week

// June 26th, 2007 // No Comments » // General

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/26/gator.attack.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

I’ve got 3:2 odds on it that this guy watched Happy Gilmore at some point and laughed his butt off.

Which also makes me wonder… without the famous one-eyed alligator in Happy Gilmore, wouldn’t the fact that the alligator has one eye be irrelevant?

Twosouth Thursday: Scott gets Scared

// June 21st, 2007 // 1 Comment » // Twosouth Thursday, UIS

Twosouth Thursday Episode #4: Trash Room – Scott gets scared

This was one of the most heavily viewed videos in Twosouth.com history. Here’s how it went down.

Chad had the camera, and Dickie was in the Scream costume, inside of the trashroom in Twosouth. The plan was for me to get selected people to the trashroom (i.e. Hey Carrie, they are getting ready to take recycling for the week, get your bottles down there, etc.).

This is totally unedited, and the timing could not have been more perfect. Just as they were setting up, the door starts to open. Chad jerks the camera to the right, because they were expecting me to be gone for several minutes. Dickie hides in the corner, Scott enters, goes to throw his pizza box away, sees that mystical Scream man that we all worried about coming to our house in the late 90’s, and tosses the pizza box in fear. Notice the hand trembling action. He proceeds to ask “You sunnufabitch, who are you?”, and the rest is history.

NBC’s The Office video game

// June 21st, 2007 // No Comments » // The Office

Please, NBC, don’t ruin a good thing.

http://www.2old2play.com/News/NBC__39_s_The_Office_To_Be_Turned_Into_Video_Game

A Conversation with HR

// June 21st, 2007 // 2 Comments » // Brad's Life, Springfield, UIS

[8:39am CST]
*ring ring*
UIS Human Resources, this is ******, how can I help you?
Hi, this is Brad Ward.  I worked at UIS until May 29th and …
*crumble crumble shuffle shuffle* canyouholdonasecond *crumble shuffle slide shuffle*
Ok, now what did you want?

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