Fleetmack.com - August 2007 News

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"I'd do anything to have her for myself. Just to have her for myself. Now I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do when she makes me sad. But I won't let this build up inside of me." --Slipknot - Vermilion Pt. 2

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August 2007 News Archives

August 06 August 10 August 13 August 17 August 21 August 22 August 27 August 28 August 29

What I am listening to as I type this: The Dust Brothers - Psycho Boy Jack

August 29, 2007

Happy burrito day! I'm tired as shit today, didn't sleep much last night as we had our fantasy draft up in Broomfield (yeah, it's now "Up" in Broomfield as it's a 45 minute drive instead of 5!) Here's your 2007 K-F-Sea Chickens:

QB: Phillip Rivers, Matt Hasselbeck
RB: Steven Jackson, Brandon Jacobs, Chris Brown, Michael Turner, Julius Jones
WR: Chad Johnson, Marques Colston, Darrell Jackson, Wes Welker, Malcolm Floyd
TE: Todd Heap
K: Robbie Gould
D: Pittsburgh Steelers

I'm a bit worried about my running backs, but the rest of the team is sold. I don't have the confidence I did last year before the season started, but I'm pleased with this team. What I'm not pleased about is that I discovered last night that I have damaged the trophy; the dude's arm is all funked up. I'm not really upset because the trophy is broken, I'm upset because now I can't make fun of Keith anymore because of when he broke the damn thing!

Busy at work, skipping the gym tonight to go home and do homework/laundry. I really need to get all this stuff done tonight as tomorrow I'll have to pack and prepare for my trip down to the San Juans over the weekend to go hiking/camping with complete strangers. It's somethign I love about living here ... I really never plan these things until about 2 days before I leave, because I can. Here, I can do anything I want in the mountains and never be on a schedule that requires me to be anywhere that I can't make it to in 5 or 6 hours. And that, my friends ... that alone ... is why I'm in Colorado instead of Kansas City or Seattle.

What I am listening to as I type this: The Dust Brothers - Marla

August 28, 2007

The draft is tonight. I will be donning my suit at Old Chicago, where I will draft the 2007-2008 reformed K-F-Sea-Chickens, who will be making a run for back-to-back titles. That's right my friends, fantasy football is back!

Guess who bought a ticket to Zurich today? Yeah, that'd be me. I leave November 8th and come back to Denver on November 25th ... not the most direct flights in the world. I guess on the way there I go straight from Denver to Frankfurt ... but on the way home I have stops in Vienna, the North Pole, Planet Jupiter, and Saskatchewan. That should be a nice flight. So yup, I'm going to Switzerland for the price of a plane ticket ... guess who is beyond excited?

Labor Day weekend is looking like I'm going with a group of guys from 14ers.com down to Lake City, Colorado and climbing a nice little batch of 14ers .... Uncompaghre, Handies, Sunshine, and Redcloud ...

Took a strength & circuit class last night at the campus rec center, it kicked my ass but was pretty cool; I hadn't exercised at all (literally) since RAGBRAI, so that felt good, ran a few miles today as well ... I'll get back into it, I'm sure.

Seahawks, Snowboarding, and Switzerland are all right around the corner ... the winter of S's. Maybe I'll have to watch the movie Sssssss tonight, that's a good one. You know, the one where Face from the A-Team turns into a king cobra. Yeah, it's a great movie.

What I am listening to as I type this: RZA - Ode to Oren Ishii

August 27, 2007

Back from KC, fuck I love that city. Had a great weekend just chillin' down in Olathe. My flight was late on Thursday so I didn't get in until around midnight. Friday was a fun party night close to home ... yeah, good location. Saturday night big party at the house, Sunday to the Royals/Indians game, Sunday night back home ... late ... delayed flight again.

Today is the first day of school again, looks like this class is going to rock and I will likely be very interested in all of it. I have to complete a fucking annotated bibliography again, however, and that just pisses me off. I hate doing that kind of shit, just have me do technical stuff! Anyways, yeah, back in school again effective today.

I'm exhausted, work is kicking my ass today, and I'm on no sleep at all. Fabi finally gets to leave the hospital tomorrow afternoon. I will hopefully book my Swiss ticket here tonight or tomorrow morning, looks like I can get it for $750 ... a bit more than my $550 one last time, but still acceptible.

And lastly ... if anyone can help me here, I'll take your advice. I need an air purifier. My allergies are on the brink of making me literally want to leave Denver. I simply cannot live like this. I'm learning that it isn't the new pad that's doing this to me, it's Denver. Within 3 minutes of being off the plane last night my nose was again running, my eyes itched, and I was sneezing. There's just something about this city, and I need to get this shit fixed. I am living my life tired because the only medicine that works for me is the kind that makes you drowsy ... none of that prescription shit works worth a damn. So yes, I need an air purifier in my room so I can sleep & breathe at night. I am using upwards of 1/3 box of kleenex every night just to keep it so that I can breathe. Bottom line: If anyone has used a good air purifier system before, let me know what it is and what you think of it ... and if you have a connection to one at a discounted rate, I'd take that too! This is beyond frustrating, and the fact that my throat is giving me problems again doesn't help.

What I am listening to as I type this: The B52's - Roam

August 22, 2007

She had surgery this morning and is doing fine. Hoping for a very speedy recovery, so let's all keep my lovely 6000-mile-away girlfriend in our thoughts. I talked to her this morning post-op and she's doing fine, which is wonderful! I will be booking a plane ticket this week or next to head over to Switzerland to see her again in November. She's going to take me on the "Tour de Schweiz", which I am beyond excited for!!!

Went out to eat with Tom last night, hadn't seen him in Denver for like four years! Good to see him again!! He's technically been a roommate of mine in two different states as I lived with him for a summer on Wood St. in Ames, and I slept on his couch for a couple of months when I first moved to Denver six years ago.

Some of my RAGBRAI pictures went up yesterday, I will get the rest (family) up tonight ... All of the Evans pix are up ... And by mid-week next week I will have some great pictures back of Fabi and my venture across South Dakota.

Leaving for Kansas City tomorrow night for the weekend, looking forward to visiting one of my happy places. Happy places are defined as places in which I am elated 100% of the time. They are unofficially as follows:
--Anywhere in Kansas City
--Atop the Team Blonde bus
--On a train in Switzerland
--On a boat in Okoboji
--Moorea Beach @ Mandalay Bay
--Keystone/Beaver Creek

Ahhhh, ok - I'm happy now. But can't get my mind from straying towards thoughts of a fast recovery for Fabienne.

What I am listening to as I type this: Jurassic 5 - Freedom

August 21, 2007

There are many experiences in my life that I thought were a living hell while going through them, and now when I look back on them, I miss them. I began working at Hy-Vee Food Stores back in 1994 as a bagger and a drive-up attendee. You see, I was only 15 and you had to be 16 to be a checker. At the Carroll Hy-Vee, when you bought groceries the employees wheeled the cart out to this covered drive-up area and we'd wait outside with their groceries while the customer drove the cart around. Around Thanksgiving and Christmas, there'd be 10 or so cars out there at once and we were so busy. It was cold, I wanted a break, customers got on my nerves when they expected me to put 2 carts of groceries in their trunk when they already have 2 spare tires and a child seat back there ... I don't know how we fit those damn things in those cars. After business slowed down at nights, we'd stock shelves or do understock (drawers hidden underneath the shelves that store excess stock of the items on the above shelf). After a year or so there I started to work in the dairy department, which meant I got more responsibility and got to work alone. I remember working until 11 on school nights, working until midnight on weekends and/or New Year's Eve. Screwing around in the back room. Going on long walks and having lemonade with Aly after we both got off work (which is another completely incredible memory in of itself). Going out with Ryan when we got off work. Screwing around with Aly, Ryan, Kyle, Troy, Jason, Tyler, Kelly, Amanda, Nate ... shit, even hearing the stupid stories from Clint! Some of my best friends in the world I met at that job .... Aly, Tyler, Ryan ... yet while I was at work those nights at Hy-Vee, I never appreciated it.

High school football practice was killer. I hated my (head) coach. It was hot. I wasn't very good. Practice was every day of the week, including Saturday mornings, from early August through mid-November. The locker room smelled, flies were everywhere, I was injured all the time from either spraining my ankle or busting my chin open and needing stitches (which happened on what seemed to be a weekly basis). Rain or shine, hot or cold, wind or still ... we were out on that muddy football pit kicking our asses only to sit bench as a senior because our (head) coach was a worthless fucking dickhead whom I could never respect in the least even in his passing from this world. At the end of practice we'd do conditioning ... run the ropes, hill sprints, or 120 yard sprints (end zone to end zone). By the end of the year we were up to something like 18 consecutive 120 yard sprints. I'll never be in that kind of shape again in my life. I hated every minute of it ... yet I love to sit here and reflect on how wonderful it was and how I enjoyed those days at football practice. The pride of wearing my jersey to school on game day was something that I just found incredible. Although it's a misleading picture as half of the people in it quit, and few of us played since coach was molding the sophomores ... this picture is still one of my favorites.

That being said, yesterday when I was driving home from work, it was 97 degrees outside at almost 6pm. I was driving by Dakota Ridge high school and the football team was running on the sidewalk ... football pants, football cleats, helmets on. I laughed my ass off ... those guys had to be saying, "This fucking sucks". As awesome as it was, as horrible as it was, I'm glad I went through it ... but I'm glad I'll never have to do that shit again!!!

This will (likely) be the last time I'm going to discuss this. When I was a senior in high school I remember sitting on the heater before Physics class on the second floor with a few people from class when someone stated they were pro-life. I laughed and stated, "Seriously? You're Pro-Life not Pro-Choice?!" From here I got the evil-eye from everyone. I could not believe it, I was absolutely stunned, I was under the impression that everyone in the world was pro-choice. I mean, that was like getting hit with a pile of bricks, I honestly had no idea that my peers were all pro-life. I think they were equally shocked to find out how strong of a stance I hold on being pro-choice. Well, I've never had that feeling again about being so wrong about something until this Michael Vick thing. I honestly thought the whole world thought "Who cares" and "This is ridiculous that they're even charging him for anything." Again, I'm shocked to find myself in a strong minority. People are calling for his ban from the NFL for this. Are you fucking kidding me?! I mean honestly, Leonard Little kills a woman while driving drunk ... then 6 years later gets another DUI .. and he can still play. Vick never harmed a human. This makes no sense. It's garbage and I'm 100% on Vick's side on this one.

I'm getting caught up ... slightly. Translation: Pictures from the Mt. Elbert climb are posted.

What I am listening to as I type this: Third Eye Blind - Good For You

August 17, 2007

I moved. I moved to Littleton. I moved to Littleton with all my stuff. I moved to Littleton with all my stuff except my couches. I moved to Littleton with all my stuff except my couches because I am keeping them in Bob's garage. I moved to Littleton with all my stuff except my couches because I am keeping them in Bob's garage but I might just sell them to him. I moved to Littleton with all my stuff except my couches because I am keeping them in Bob's garage but I might just sell them to him because I dream of Fabi moving here and we will just buy new furniture together.

Am I living in a dream world or just simply writing run-on sentences for a lack of better things to say? One could make a valid argument for either case. Either way, Fabienne not being here any more sucks that blue whale's father. I fell like Frank Drebbin when I say, "Everywhere I look, something reminds me of her."

I will unpack tonight. I will hook up my router tonight so I am back online at home (classes start again in 2 weeks). I will be watching DirecTV again tomorrow, and yes, I have the NFL package again. I will stop talking/typing about things I will do, and get back to doing them now. Auf viedersehen.

What I am listening to as I type this: System of a Down - War

August 13, 2007

And she's gone .... just like that. I was finally "that guy" at the airport ... standing there, hugging her, crying ... she leaves, my shirt is covered with her tears and about 20 Kleenex were wadded up in my hands soaking wet. Yeah, Friday night sucked. The rest of the weekend consisted of me packing, Bob helping me move (thanks, dude, you're a life saver!), and cleaning the apartment with Andy. I was so damn tired last night, I didn't even unpack my car, so I have to drive home over lunch today to unpack it so I can go back to the apartment after work to pick up the last load of stuff. I was supposed to do some work this weekend at the office, but the network was down last night ... got in a little early today to try to do some work, and the network was still down. Our water heater is out of commission, so I went to the gym to shower this morning, had to sit there a half hour because they were doing maintenance in the bathrooms. Yeah ... nothing is going right for me right now. So what am I going to do? Look forward to things getting better ... I'll make them better ....

... I will be officially apartment-lease-free in about 12 hours. My projects at work are finally starting to look like something will become of them. I will be settled in at the Littleton home here by the end of the week. Next week I will buy my plane ticket to Switzerland to go see Fabi. I start school in two weeks again so I can start learning again. I will likely be spending a ton of time in the gym, my weight has dropped to 165lbs ... about 10 under normal, and it's because I haven't lifted weights for about 6 months, so it's time to get stronger. Yes, my friends, I will make this bad streak come to an end.

Ohne dich kann ich nicht sein
Ohne dich z�hl ich die stunden
Mit dir stehen die sekunden

I really need to learn German so I can write that without having to steal lyrics from Rammstein.

What I am listening to as I type this: System of a Down - Know

August 10, 2007

For the second consecutive time, I forgot to renew my domain name. That's what that whole trucking company business website was the last few days. Some jackass apparently thought he had the right to steal my fleetmack.com name if I let its domain name registration lapse so he stole it 1 minute after it expired. Jackass didn't realize I have eminent domain name control since I've owned the name for over 5 years. So yeah, we're back at it. Prediction: I will forget to renew my domain name in 2009 again.

She leaves tonight. I am none to happy with this, but I have to say that I couldn't be happier about the direction our relationship is going. This woman is beyond amazing and we are incredibly happy together, which supersedes the enormous 6000 mile distance and Atlantic Ocean which will temporarily separate us. Plans are currently in the works for me to head over to Europe again for a few weeks in November. Man, if you'd have told me one year ago today that I'd be spending upwards of 3-4 combined weeks of 2007 in Switzerland, I'd have thought, "You're fucking insane." However, this appears to be the case and I am thrilled about it. My bank of vacation time couldn't be dropping any faster than it is right now, but what good is vacation time if you don't use it? Mine will likely be zero'd out by the end of November, could be a short Christmas break this year!

I know I fall behind on this site quite a bit. I have pictures from climbing Mt. Elbert. I have RAGBRAI pictures. I have pictures of various things Fabienne and I have done together. Usually I am pressed for time, but right now I flat-out don't have it. Between losing my girlfriend in a battle with the United States immigration services and the department of homeland security, moving to Littleton, and being busy as hell at work ... I simply don't have time for this right now. I promise things will be back to normal shortly.

Oh wait, maybe not. It appears as if I am going to Kansas City in two weeks, going on a climbing trip (solo perhaps) over Labor Day, and another trip is highly likely the week after that. This is how I cope with depression, I surround myself with my friends. Ok, "depression" is an enormous word, I will not be depressed. But I will be beyond very sad to see my lovely girlfriend leave tonight. Shoot, 3 months went too fast.

What I am listening to as I type this: Pink Floyd - Mother

August 6, 2007

Spent the weekend starting to move. I'll be officially living in Littleton next week. Yes, that's the wonderful city we associate with Columbine High School.

I put up pictures (finally) from my family's Colorado visit and the 4th of July trip. So in a few weeks I might get around to Mt. Elbert, various other pictures, RAGBRAI, and other cool things.

Time goes way to fast; I wish it moved more like the speed of sound than the speed of light. I don't want her to go. I just cannot imagine how I am going to feel this weekend, but I have a premonition that I will be downright sad.