Give me my money back, maaaaaaan..

I did my taxes yesterday. Well, my federal taxes. The ones that matter. I wasn't really sure how much I was going to get back this year, or if I was going to get any back at all for that matter so it became a good day when I got far enough into things to see I was going to get a little bit of coin back. Yay for me. It's exciting, you know, because it's my money I'm getting back.

I also discovered I did my taxes one day earlier last year than this year.  I always do my taxes fairly early.  It's pretty easy with turbotax.  And free.  If I actually had to buy turbotax I'd suck it up and do them by hand.  But it's free so I don't, and I get handy little .pdf's for record keeping.  YIPPEEEEEEEE.

Last year I did them early because I needed a little extra dough to line my pockets when I came out here. My tax return was, more or less, what got me started out here with first month's rent, security deposit, and incidentals like filling my belly with overpriced food and grog (I had other money, but why spend that right away.......). This was well back, when I was out here strictly to have a good time with no plan of staying for the long term (Long term being more than a couple of months..). Once the job started it took a couple more months for me to realize I was burning through money like you read about and that I needed to do a little bit of budgeting to allow myself to save a bit. Yes, I enjoy saving money. I'm a delayed gratification kind of a guy.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this savings account but it helps me sleep at night knowing I have it. Actually, recently until I actually completed my taxes this savings account didn't help me sleep; it kept me awake. A lot of my “budgets” get crafted while I'm unable to fall asleep at night. This results in me coming up with silly ideas and then rough figures to go along with the silly ideas and then these rough figures get plugged into the calculator in my phone so I can determine how things add up. Last night I had some concrete numbers so I didn't have to fudge numbers a few times to get a ballpark estimate. 

 Yes, I am, in fact, an anal retentive loser. But I enjoy knowing where my monies end up so I'll take the good with the bad. One in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that nonsense.  Don't tell me otherwise.

--

I've been trying to update my resume so I can be ready to send it out if a job that interests me catches my eye but I've hit a bit of a snag. I'm finding it quite difficult to explain what I actually do for work in ways besides “I clean up dirty tables for a living.” Some one give me some advice, please. 

 Cheers.

More to come asap..

........hopefully..................

Cheers.

Winter doldrums..

Aloha. It's been quite some time. I don't even know how long. I know I've written once this month. I included quite a few words but I don't think I really said very much. That's kind of how I've been feeling lately. I've got quite a bit running running running through my head but there seems to be some broken connections between my brain and my fingers/mouth/whatever because I yet to be able to express how, exactly, I feel. Discombobulated. So, instead of writing I haven't been doing very much. I read Fight Club last week. Excellent read. I don't think that helped to clear my head as the entire storyline is about a pretty mixed up guy. I haven't had insomnia recently so I don't think I have to worry about developing a split personality just yet, which is a good thing. I recommend reading it if you're looking for a new read. It's much better than the movie, though I did enjoy the movie, too. Had I been better informed and more into reading ten years ago I would have liked to have read the book first, but that's neither here nor there now as the past cannot be changed. Down the road I'm sure I'll read more books by the author, Chuck Palahniuk, though right now I have many books in my possession I haven't yet read so I'd rather tackle those than buy more books. Eventually I'd like to read enough books I already have so I can send some back to my folks' place, but I've been saying that since I got here and it hasn't happened yet. I've traded some books when I've been back but I know there's absolutely no way all of the books I have now will fit into the bags I'll be carrying whenever I depart from here. But I'm confident things will shake out just fine whenever things actually have to shake out.

--

I think the new year has a way of messing with me in such a way that I get thrown into a bit of a funk. I've never really considered this before. When I was coaching the new year was daunting because it meant many, many consecutive six day work weeks as the new year brought the start of indoor meets which rolled immediately into outdoor meets. Last year I was fairly miserable around the new year because I didn't really have much of a plan for what was “next” in my life. I was living at home. It was cold and snowy. I wasn't working as the roofing season had come to a conclusion shortly after snowfall in the middle of December. Let's just say I had plenty of time to be miserable and not leave the house. I'm fairly certain this year's new year funk was a carry-over from not being home for the holidays, coupled with a little bit of an itch for a change. I'm quite happy here, but at the same time I'm getting that restless feeling and this time I'm feeling a desire to find a career path that could be for the long term. I have no idea what this could be, exactly, though I do have some potential avenues I've already discussed and others I plan to explore sometime in the not so distant future. This is by no means a rush to change, but I do feel a need to take a small step forward in the stages of change I learned so much about in my undergrad psychology classes.

This concerns the few of you still reading because I'd appreciate any input you may have for me. What, if anything, should I do next? Am I a fool for considering departing this beautiful island after barely a year? Do you know of a job that may interest me that you could help me obtain (Heh, heh..)? I'm all ears. This could be a very fleeting thought and by the end of this week I could be very well calling myself a fool for thinking this way, but at the same time I'm finding motivation right now so it certainly can't hurt to look around a bit. And, hell, I could have purchased one hundred and seventy thousand junior bacon cheeseburgers for the price of my undergraduate degree, so the least they can do is help me out in my job search, right?

Have a great start to your weeks, folks. My goal is to not lose all ambition by this afternoon. I'm out of salad so that should help things. Cheers.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Oh, that was last week?  Some start to the new year writing wise, huh...............

I've locked myself in my room and now I'll write. I've got no internet access in here; I can only get a signal when I'm sitting at our table in the kitchen and I don't really enjoy sitting there. The chairs aren't that comfortable. Rigid, firm. Not squishy. I don't feel like the chairs contribute to detailed writing because the whole time I'm sitting there writing all I'm thinking about is getting out of the chair and getting to sit some place more comfortable. So, generally, I open up my computer, turn it on, enter my password (yes, I password protect my computer. Old college habit, though I don't know why I did it there, either. I don't possess any classified information.), connect to the internet and then open up a new window so I can open up Blogger and then a new post. Well, this isn't entirely true. Once I open a new window I always check my mail first. Always. Then I stay logged in and check my work schedule. Always. Then I log into the facebook. Always. Then I go to ESPN and check the headlines. Most of the time. THEN I open up Blogger and click on “New Post.” I am a creature of habit. It may seem annoying but I find comfort in repetition. I always use tabs, too. Never multiple windows. Multiple windows are so 1999. Whoever came up with the code that allows for multiple tabs in the same internet browser window deserves a pat on the back and a firm handshake. Preferably at about the same time. Handshake, then pat on the back. No, firm handshake, THEN the elbow grab while the shake is going on, for emphasis, you know. Then, post-shake, an appropriate pat on the back. Not a gentle and caressing pat. Not a pre-stage Heimlich-manuver pat. Just an appropriate pat. A “You deserve a pat on the back so I'm going to give you a pat on the back, and thus the regognition you so deserve” pat. Yeah, that sounds nice.

--

So, yeah. I've been struggling with motivation to write. Not ideas. There's always plenty of topics, however trivial they may seem or turn out to be. I mean, shit, I haven't even written about New Years yet. It wasn't that spectacular. Worked until about ten thirty. Met J.Mac and out 4^th roommate, Curtis from Cape Cod, a little after that and drank beer on the side of the road while we attempted to hitch hike to a party. Shortly after midnight we succeeded in procuring a ride up the hill “(Well, two rides, but they were pretty close together so it counts as one ride, I think. Went to a pretty silly party that was going strong when we got in. Lot of house music. Kind of a weird scene. Curtis described it as a “weird, like silly, like gay ecstasy party.” Homophobic slurs aside, it was a pretty goofy scene where, presumably, quite a few people were rolling. It was a house party with 30 or 40 guests, a DJ complete with light show, smoke machine, and video, and no sign of the owner of the house anywhere to be found. And a guy dressed like the bunny from Donnie Darko and another guy that had on a light up t-shirt with LCD lights in the shape of the MTV logo, only his shirt actually said Mr. DJ or something stupid and he had on a teletubby head. Yeah, needless to say we didn't have the right drugs to really settle into that scene so we walked back down the hill after a little bit of time passed and caught a ride home. Happy New Year, indeed.

However, the house party, when the drugs and the DJ and everything expensive was removed, did kind of remind me a little bit of some of the parties that used to develop at Camp's house. There would be a whole gaggle from many walks of life who all ended up there because, well, sometimes there's only one party in town and that party usually formulated itself at Camp's house. With Nate Dogg on the CD player. Always Nate Dogg, always Music & Me, always played at least six times over the course of the night. “Ring the Alarm” will always put a smile on my face for this particular reason, and will always remain on my iPod just for that particular reason.  I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SONG ALL NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

 No one at the time really knew the words.  Some nights it was "Bring Me Along."  Other nights it was "Leave Me Alone."  Then again, maybe it was just the booze talking.  Ah, memories.

--

Speaking of iPod it's becoming more and more difficult to squeeze more music on there. Most nights I'll listen to my entire iTunes library on random, which is fairly extensive, and see where things end up. Once I find something I'm into for that particular evening I usually take it off random and just continue listening, but usually after this I remember how good something was and then want to hear more. Thus, it needs to find a way on my iPod. I've only got a 4gig nano (This last phrase sounded incredibly ridiculous to me as I wrote it because if someone told me ten years ago I'd be able to walk around with just about 1000 songs in my pocket I would have laughed in their face. But ten years later 1000 songs is tiny and I've become conditioned to MORE MORE MORE. They make players the size of fingernail clippers that hold 1000 songs. Nuttiness..) so while 1000 songs is quite a bit of music I enjoy having whole albums within an ear's reach, not just a song or two. Adding a song is easy, but finding an hour's worth of songs, or axing a whole album already on there causes me quite a bit of mental distress. I pride myself on keeping a diverse and polished iPod library and I enjoy EVERYTHING I keep on my iPod. There's a time and a place for everything so it's quite a challenge balancing my whims and interests of today with what I may be feeling tomorrow. And, really, everything that's been on my iPod for awhile started as a recently added, heavily debated item. Some albums are old, comfortable choices I've been listening to for years and will stay on because I enjoy sleeping to or running and/or riding to. Newbies need to find their niche. Yes, I do put this much thought into things. Today I wanted to add The Downward Spiral (I'm on a NIN kick, sue me..) so I removed ten (or so..) random country songs to start THEN subbed out my Beatles 1967-70 collection for Sgt. Peppers, Magical Mystery Tour, The Downward Spiral, and three random tracks (two Beatles, one NIN). I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, I really enjoy the 28 song Beatles two disc collection, but we'll see how it goes for the next couple days. And yes, this decision took me well over an hour to formulate. Good thing I have most the day off.

--

I suppose people could say I've been kind of selfish by taking some time for myself to start the new year. Until yesterday I didn't use my phone very much all week. Then yesterday not many folks were around when I attempted to return phone calls so I feel like I've been beaten at my own game of phone call screening and non-replied to texts. Karma is a motherfucker.  If you were someone I didn't respond to and then you didn't respond to me let me be first to apologize and say we're even.

--

That'll have to do for today. Welcome back, me. Cheers.

Le tired..

This doesn't happen a lot but last night I got home from work a little late, a little tired, and went to sleep.  Just seconds later, it seemed, my alarm went off and it was morning.  No dreams, no nothing.  Just a groggy, morning wake up.  I was none to pleased about this.  I don't remember my dreams too often but I do know most nights laying down for seven hours doesn't feel like seven seconds.  This could be a long day..

The year's almost over!  I don't know why that seems crazy today, but it DOES!  IF YOU'VE GOT ANYTHING LEFT YOU WANTED TO DO THIS YEAR, YOU SHOULD DO IT ASAP.  Cheers.

It was a celebration, bitches..

The Christmas holiday has come and gone. While I would have much rather been at home with family and old friends, my Christmas here was a pretty special experience. One of my roommates, Louis, decided to cook a ham for Christmas dinner so around 3pm we had a family dinner of ham, mashed taters and corn. TASTY. Following this the four of us ventured out of the house in the early evening to attend another dinner, this time at the home of a co-worker. The house was absolutely gorgeous and easily made its way into my relatively arbitrary “Top Ten Houses I've Ever Entered,” as it was a well-apportioned spread high in some pineapple fields, overlooking the beautiful West Maui coastline. I didn't take any pictures because I figured that would have looked amateur so you'll just have to take my word that this was a baller house. It's the kind of house you'd expect the VP of TS Restaurants (TS owns the restaurant that's on my paycheck..) to have, as we happened to be at the house of the VP of TS Restaurants. Small world, eh? Again, clearly, it's not what you know, but who.

How we ended up at this particular house, the Moon house, to be a bit more specific, is a somewhat long and silly story but to sum the Moon household consists of Papa Moon, Mama Moon, and Miss Moon. Miss Moon works at Hula, as well, “(As the TS Family tends to be, literally, the TS family..) and we've become somewhat social through various work-related circumstances. Also, one of our good friends from Hula is close friends with the family, and his dad actually rents a smaller house on this family's property.

At any rate we get invited to the Moon house to have the pleasure of dining with the Moons and some other of their close family friends. Jon and I bonded with one gentleman, the father of one of Miss Moon's best friends, as we talked about Maine and he shared a story of an acid trip he went on while on top of Cadillac Mountain. It sounded downright fantastic, but I digress.

The party totaled twelve and after dinner the wine continued to flow until seven twenty-somethings and the Moon parents remained. At this point we were all socializing outside so, for whatever reason, Mr. Moon tosses about twenty golf balls onto the lawn and a driver emerges. Don't threaten me with a good time, right?

It's safe to say everyone took their fair share of whacks over the next half hour or so and well over a hundred balls ended up piercing the darkness on their (mostly..) airborne rides into the pineapple fields. After a solid slice to kick things off I found my groove easily. I felt like holes 19-27 of a thirty six hole day, when I've had enough beers to finally loosen up and shake the rust off. Or like holes 8-13 of a scramble when the drink goes down at a much more rapid rate so I can find my swing sooner. But, in either case I tend to continue down a sudsy road even once I find my groove so my game steadily regresses from this optimal golfing state. God damn alcohol and it's negative effects. Luckily for me I didn't quite reach that stage Christmas night, so Mr. Moon was pretty impressed with my swing as I was the big hitter of the group. Mr. Moon has a hell of a consistent swing, so whether just the wine talking or not I've chosen to take his kind words as a compliment.

The Moon's were so warm, welcoming, and inviting that, while making me feel incredibly happy to be allowed entry into their Christmas traditions, as I took stock well into the evening of what I was a part of I became quite bummed because it reminded me so much of summer holiday gatherings on the Capone deck, chock full of good food and drink for virtually all comers. Though, in the spirit of Christmas this party didn't turn into the debaucherous train wreck that more than one of the Capone social gatherings have turned into over the years. Ah, memories..

More or less, selflessness and generosity are desirable traits whether you make $20K, $200K, or $2000K. Spread the like.

Cheers.

Intensity in ten cities..

It's Monday.  Get to it.  Cheers.

Pretty happy about this..

Earlier today when I posted the Mule clip all I had really wanted to put up was the album version of "Banks of the Deep End" but youtube did not cooperate.  From there I performed a little google search to see how to embed .mp3's to Blogger but that cam up relatively unsuccessfully because all I could really find was using Windows Movie Maker to add a picture with a song and upload it as a movie.  I did not have Windows Movie maker so, in the spirit of Kevin McCallister, I gave it a whirl and downloaded it because it was free and I figured it would be super simple to pop up a picture of Warren Haynes from Bonnaroo and bing bang boom I could sub out the video up now with a new simple clip.  But when I popped open my 'Roo folder I saw all the good pictures I had taken and Nick had taken and KathV had taken I thought, "Well, shit.  I might as use some of the good ones of us."

Outside of seeing Grace Potter on some serious PED's the 1a highlight of my trip was hearing this song live.  I don't know why, I'm just into the song.  So, I present to you ten days of debauchery set to probably my favorite song.  Hold on to a piece of dry land..

--

This made me smile.  Miss you, friends.  I'd like to say I'm sorry for not including other good friends and family who didn't make the trip, but, if you weren't there you can't really understand, man..  

Happy Christmas to all you "Christians" out there and sorry to my Jew friends I didn't give you folks a shout out for your eight crazy nights of Hanukkah. I'll do better next year.

--

I'm just seeing today that my counter has malfunctioned.  I'm not stressing it but I'll look into some soluations before the new year  Today I exited the information superhighway on MyYellowNotepad and found my hits under 40.  Just now it was under 8000.  Not to be self conscious, but I know earlier in December I was well (WELL!!!!!!!!!!) over 16,000 hits.  No big deal..

I know about six of you out there tune in on the regular.  You're [each] the best...Cheers.

On Christmases, and other musings..

A Little Christmas in your Heart..

I've been listening to Gov't Mule and I have to say that it had been awhile since I last listened. Can't put a finger on why I stopped, probably just to diversify a little bit, but for whatever reason I cracked open a little bit of “Banks of the Deep End” about three hours ago and this Mule train hasn't slowed a bit. I've also wanted to write quite a bit but, again, for whatever reason I haven't put fingers to keys or pencil to paper for quite some time, either [Ed's Note: “Quite some time” for writing is more than a few days. “Quite some time” between Mule sessions is more than a couple of weeks. In case you were wondering..]

I think it's because I've kind of been muddling over some heavy shit for the past week or so. I finally realized Christmas is here and I wouldn't be back in town, some other stuff that comes up from time to time, just random tangented thoughts that have been somewhat tangled and clustered and far more personal than I usually delve into on here. The 'Pad is about fun, right? Not lame ass bullshit. At least that's my take. The only lame shit I bring up is goofy shit that happened to me that I can spin in a self-deprecating manner. Mopey Matt doesn't make for good 'Pad stories. So it goes; I'm somewhat over it as there's nothing I can do about it now except for deciding I'll be sleeping in close proximity to 48 Smith Street a year from now.

It's just kind of silly to me that I've found a way to not make it home for Christmas after I'd never been away from home for more than ten days or so up until this year. And I never planned to skip Christmas ; just between coming home in July and October it would have been hard to justify another vacation six weeks after my last vacation. So, shucks and we'll fix it next year. I know the gang was at Samm-o's Thursday night and whoever wasn't there was sucking'em up at Gipper's after 9pm. Thinking of both of those places did put a little frown on my face. I like me some Gipper's and I like em some Fletcher basement beer pong. Together we might have had a perfect storm of lighthearted, festive debauchery. And from the sounds of things no one was overly beligerent at Samm-o's, so my presence was clearly missed. Last year I don't remember being at Samm-o's; I misplaced time for a couple of hours and those hours still haven't turned up. That was back when I was young and foolish – I'm older now...

Small sidenote here. I just want to give a quick random shout-out and name drop that I should have done right after I left town in October. A couple of nights before I was heading back out, it was Friday, I believe, I'm at Gipper's with my old boss Mr. Haggerty and a couple other folks and One of the owners, Tom Fournier, comes in for some dinner. We each wave hello, as he knows my pops from way back when, as his son played him some fooseball under the guidance of Skip. But just a couple of minutes later he waves me over, saying he's got to talk to me about something. Let's just say I'm not always the most sober person in the crowd when I partake in Rollback Thursdays so I'm fairly certain he's about to bust my balls for getting nutty. Nothing of the sort! Tom Fournier is an avid 'Pad reader. So, Tom. In the spirit of the holidays I wish you a very Merry Christmas and I thank you for your continued support of the 'Pad. In the past I've done my best to publicize my patronage of L/A's best sportsbar, in fact I spent some of my 21^st birthday at Gipper's (I had drank close to a fifth of Jack prior to arriving so I ordered a beer, walked back outside and passed out in the parking lot...but the effort was there.........).

With that, I enjoy knowing who reads. So, say hello sometime. Let me know what you like of my material and what you think sucks. But if you think anything I post sucks you can piss up a rope. THIS IS FOR MY ENTERTAINMENT ONLY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Oh, and Gov't Mule kicks some serious tail.  Don't forget that, either.

–

But in all seriousness it still doesn't really feel like Christmas. It's not the lack of cold or snow or a tree or decorations or any of those physical sorts of things, it's just my close friends and family are all 5000 miles away, for the most part. I've met plenty of cool people, I live with cool people, but, shit, it's just not the same. I can't bust my mom's chops for listening to shitty Christmas albums “just so she can say she's listened to them all this year” or my pops for opening his presents while someone else is opening one. He's selfish and greedy, really. Or getting on Krysta's nerves, well, just because it's easy and I'm a jerk. Then knowing you don't have to talk to anyone Christmas night because we're all going to end up at Gipper's anyway by six or seven and then trek to the Goose for the best Christmas party in the world. So, I know it's early, but can someone please play some Temple of the Dog on the jukebox and then sit up on top of the booths while it's playing, smiling down on the couple hundred folks packed in tight to wait a half hour in between beers because no one can move. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas.

To those who I love: I love and miss you. To those that I miss: I miss you. To everyone else: Merry Christmas and thanks for reading.

And to all: The airport code is OGG. Just let me know the day and time you land.

–

I've been sick-ish for about a week and a half now. I say sick-ish because I'm definitely sick but I'm continually telling myself I'm not sick while trying to blame my symptoms on other contributing factors. For instance, all of this week has been super voggy. Vog is volcanic fog that I'm sure isn't exactly healthy for you. When the winds are right (or wrong, is more like it..) they blow over from the Big Island and it's super hazy and humid and it can get a little difficult to breathe. More or less, it sucks. So the vog has definitely been making me feel worse than just your standard cough due to a cold but at the same time I still don't feel that bad. My nose drips, I have a hacking cough and one of my ears has been plugged up for the last four days or so...but I'm not really sweating over it. I'll get better, right? I've been self-medicating with Wild Turkey, Steve-weiser, and plenty of salad. I can't for the life of me figure out why I'm not back to 100% yet. Wednesday night I smoked my first cigarette since July. I'm a bad person. Peer pressure is a motherfucker and those cancer sticks are just so darned tasty sometimes I need to have them. I'm not addicted...I'm not addicted..

No, I'm not addicted. They're just tasty treats sometimes.

Back to the cold. I know some of the reason I'm not super bummed about getting a cold is because it's still pretty gorgeous out every day. I'm not stuck in stale, office air all day. I sleep with my windows open. The poison has plenty of opportunity to drift away so I don't feel like I'm swimming in my own filth while I'm sick. I'd still prefer to not be snuffly, so hopefully two days off for the holiday will turn my mini-frown upside down..

–

It appears I've developed a pretty serious personality as the guy who rides his bike all the time without a shirt on. I have a rear rack ad bungee cord so I bungee my book and a t-shirt onto the back of my bike wherever I go, then if I need to wear a shirt I'll have the shirt to throw on. Then, when I head back up north I usually just ride shirtless again, even at night because it's still warm enough for me to work up a sweat so why would I wear a shirt for fifteen minutes just to take it off when I get home because I'm sweaty? I'd be left with a dirty shirt EVERY day. Talk about waste?!?! So I ride shirtless. It's pretty badass. I'm pretty badass. No big deal, ladies and gents.

It just funny that multiple people have come up and used “I know I see you riding your bike all the time, but I don't exactly know you” as an opener. It's gotta be the 'stache. Fear the 'stache. Finally, it's starting to get a little ridiculous. I think it may finally be time to locate some wax. Wax would kick the flair factor up at least another notch (From “WOOO” to “WOOOOOO..” I know eventually I'm not going to be able to go much higher. One of the bartenders thinks my look now is the spitting image of John Bonham, drummer for Led Zep. So, I've got that going for me, too. You've still got to wonder what people think when they see goofy-ass me, though, right? If I wasn't me I don't know what I'd think if I saw me. Hell, I am me and sometimes I see myself in the mirror and crack up. That's because I'm in on the joke. It's a GOOD one.

–

Thursday morning some landscapper folks came and trimmed up the palm trees right in front of our door. Now we've got a killer view of the ocean. Even more killer than we had before. One of the guys cutting down the palms was standing outside of our door and said: “Holy shit. Look at this fucking place. View of the ocean and Barbe's? That's fucking perfect.” If it's good enough for seedy landscapers then it's good enough for me. I'll leave you with this. I'm running out of steam. I don't work Friday so I wasn't concerned about staying up until all hours of the night, because if I get tired during a day off I can just take a nap. This brain dump was worth staying up until 2:30am for. And the Mule train is still going strong. In case I don't get anything else up before Saturday I hope you all have a holly, jolly Christmas. It's the best time of the year. Say hello to friends you know, and have a cup of cheer.

And in case you didn't hear:

O, by golly, have a holly, jolly Christmas this year, indeed. Cheers.

Yeah, maaaaaaaan..

Cheers.

F-ing ATM's..

I went to the cash machine last night to withdraw some US currency so I could by a little salad and, wouldn't you know it, I left my card in the machine.  It was one of those old, bootleg machines where the card slot and receipt slots are no where near one another and the card doesn't get spit back out until AFTER the receipt.  That seems pretty back-assward, if you ask me.  PLUS almost all of the machines have gone to swipes so I always have my card re-elastized before I even enter my personal identification number.  F me, man.  I was at the cash machine attached to the bank so I hope, so long as no one took it out of the machine, that the machine ate the card and I'll be able to get it back tomorrow morning.  I need to go to the bank to deposit some checks so it shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience.  But, F, man.  Not too impressed with myself right now.

I didn't realize I had left my card in the machine until Sunday afternoon when I was attempting to pay for a late breakfast.  Bollocks.  There were intentions of this post being longer yesterday but I got sidetracked and now I need to head to the bank so I can allow myself ample time to pedal to work.  Sue me.  Cheers.