sprucing up the cube... and fun with foam core

when i first stepped into my cube at work. there was absolutely nothing. then the tech guy showed up and hooked up my computer and phone. from there, it was time to discover where the office supplies were kept and who to talk to regarding odds and ends such as a stapler, stapler remover and shelving units for the half wall. after gathering myself an assortment of pens, pencils and highlighters, i realized i didn't have a pen holder. so i asked one of the floor managers for one, and she told me they had none. so for the time being i copied what the squad check table had: stylerfoam cups turned upside-down with the bottom removed; and then secured to the table via tape.
i told p my dilema and she mentioned that she had some boxes the students at school built and left with her. after examining the two boxes she brought home, i decided to make my own... after some instruction on how to make one... yes, it is just a box... but making the corners is an art, i started to fashion my own. after about four days... i formed the four walls and base, but wanted to do something else on one or more of the walls and just didn't know what to do. and after four days, i ended up with this. it now adornes my cube, opposite the two stylerfoam cups i have for other writing utensils.

after completing the box and finding myself with time and materials at hand, i started to play around. some things will be shown later, but i thought this sculpture was worthy of posting.

where am i?

on thursday, november 25th, p and i took a walk through denver to get some exercise- we stopped cycling cause the belly's getting bigger by the minute (but not really, more on that later). we've been taking weekly walks and due to the holiday, we had extra days for walks through d-town. on our way north on acoma to the south end of the new denver art museum being built a woman stopped us and asked us, 'where am i?' we both looked at her a bit confused - we were both thinking, 'you've got to be kidding me.' here's a woman standing in front of us dressed all in black, orange hair and apparently her zipper was down (an observation p noticed and later told me). after a few seconds of silence, she said, 'i just got out of municipal. how about a liquor store, i really just want some cigarettees and a bus station.' so after that, i asked, 'where are you going?' since telling her where she was wasn't going to help. 'Littleton,' she says. (about 12 miles south of where we were standing.) 'Oh, wow. you're far away. But Broadway is just one block over.' 'Thanks!' was her reply and off she went. In search of cigarettes and a bus home.

cubicle life

my first week of cubicle life is about to come to a close... (un)fortunately, my friday will be a full day (the deal is, i work four 9's and a half; but since next week is t-day, working all day on the 19th gives me next friday completely off to spend time doing other things. anyway. it's definitely a change from the old job where it was a room with anywhere from 4 to 10 people in there trying to communicate with everyone else. now, instead of having this feeling of people looming over me getting work out, i have my own space and no one looking over my shoulder. at least, not yet. i'm sure as time passes i'll have more strict deadlines. another odd thing, is that i'm so used to eating at my desk, i seem to not know how to leave for lunch. odd as it may be, this first week i've been eating at my desk and working at the same time. kind of crazy, and sad... but i'm sure at some point i'll be leaving the office to walk around the duck pond outside or doing something other than sitting at my desk. so new to me- the concept of a lunch hour where i could do whatever the hell i wanted to... i'm starting out, though, working at my desk.

photos: desk, view from the cubicle

transitions

friday, 12 november 2004, was my last day working at denver/boulder couriers. didn't really feel like a last day. took about 140 orders and then spent the last 2 hours dispatching and trying to work magic that i thought had left my hands when i turned over the controls to the new dispatcher. but somehow, with hard work from the riders in denver, i cleared the last job out with a messenger at 5:15. after a few follow up phone calls and random notes in jobs, it all came to a close at 5:50. well, not really. i still had thoughts and notes spinning in my head from a crazy friday afternoon. only after emailing some notes to the office, did i feel completely finished with that job.
and only two short days later do i begin a new career. surely not enough time to decompress after five and a half years working as a messenger. i do believe that next time i'll do better at negotiating my start time so i have more than two days to decompress.

arc

knowing that in two days time i'd need to be wearing docker style pants and collared shirts at work, p and i went shopping for additions to my wardrobe. after finding a few pairs of pants, we scored ourselves an antique high chair and a changing table for a whopping total of 67USD. score.

now it's sunday. i can't believe i only gave myself a weekend between changing jobs and gears. gotta negotiate the transition better next time.

catching up

my friend paul from nyc called last night after scanning the blog, full of questions. of course, some could have been answered by reading, but it was good to hear from him and didn't mind filling him in. apparently i dropped a couple more bombs on him other than what has been written about and he thought it would be a good idea if i wrote about what's been going on over the course of the last four or five months.

so. a quick update so everyone reading is caught up. my girlfriend, patricia, and i are expecting a baby in january 2005 - we're hoping that he/she (since we didn't bother to find out the sex) will be born in the year of the monkey. having found out the news (rather were shocked by the news) early june, i moved from my rental in boulder, co, to her rental in denver, to start saving money. about two weeks ago, on 28 october 2004, i got a job offer from jacobs engineering in golden, colorado, that starts on monday 15 nov. and i believe the last bit of news is that my p and i are engaged. no date set, not even worrying about it.

i think that covers it. my stint at DBC ends friday, and moving ahead to something different and new. it's about time.

links: DBC, Jacobs
photos: sonagram I, II, III

consumerism at it's worst...

the apartment complex i live in is four stories and has a trash cute at the end of the hall. over the last few months, i'm amazed at the items i've seen (and recovered) from that room. although there is a sign that says to not leave boxes and large items in the room, people are so lazy as to ignore that sign and leave stuff lying around. in the past few months i've seen a 22" computer monitor, skies, empty cardboard boxes and wine racks. and today, i found two lamps. i couldn't believe it. i brought them back to the apartment and left for a bike ride. when i returned, p had plugged in the taller of the two and it worked just fine, equiped with lightbulbs. i slapped the table lamp together and placed a bulb in and turned it on as well. absolutely nothing wrong with them except someone had decided they weren't good enough for them anymore. amazing.

engagement

about a year ago, p and i spent a saturday together hanging out in downtown denver. i woke up early that day, around 6am, and baked her a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread; and jumped on the 8am bus to denver to meet her at Market Street Station. once i got off the bus, p picked me up in her car and we headed up 17th st to St. Mark's Coffee Shop up on cap hill (i had cider and her a cup o joe). after drinks, we made our way to the Denver Art museum for some cultural enlightenment. on the 6th floor of the museum, we rested our feet weary legs on a couch placed in the middle of a gallery and let time pass by slowly as we watched people and their viewing habits. After a couple of hours of art viewing, we went out on the green just north of the museum and sat in the sun and ate the banana bread i had made earlier that day. quite a lovely day, indeed.

on saturday, 6 november 2004, we decided to wake up and take a walk around the city. a free day for us where we had nothing planned. after breakfast at the Walnut Cafe, we walked down colfax to the Denver Art Museum, stopping breifly to watch the Veteran's Day parade, only to become sick to our stomachs to see the 'PT Cruiser club of Colorado' end(?) the parade (what the hell do PT cruisers have to do with veterans?). anyway, after making our way through a couple of exhibits, we found ourselves on the 6th floor looking at the same paintings as last time. the couch, however, was occupied; so we stolled into the adjacent room and took a seat in front of a juan gris painting. on the table between us was a vase of flowers and two sketch books with a few colored pencils. so we each took up a sketch book and drew our interpretations of the vase of flowers... i was done in a matter of minutes (p was, however, consumed in her own fine art, completely oblivious to me, fumbling for the ring in my pocket) and thought that it would be a nice time to propose. so on my drawing, i wrote the following, 'i got u some flowers. will you marry me?' i then crouched down (no, not on one knee, that came later) and presented my drawing to p. it seem to take an eon for her to read the message. apparently, she was looking at the drawing, and not reading and comprehending the question at hand. so. after about, what felt like a minute, a huge smile came upon her face and smothered me with kisses. the only thing is, i hadn't gotten a response. but, she accepted. yay! it was a sure thing, but to hear confirmation was fantastic.

photos: ring I, II

hanging out at the local seven-11

my car has been sitting in the parking garage across the street for about three months (i thought it was two, but after talking to p, i think the last time i drove it any distance was at the end of july). since i'm a fan of public transportation and riding my bike, i haven't driven since i had an interview in golden. anyway. my front passenger tire has been slowly going flat, and it was about time i put some air in it. so, i slow rolled it over to 7-11 at pearl and east 17th ave. as i stepped out of my car and put my two quarters in the air machine (can't believe i was paying for air) and a man sitting in the short alley asked if i shot pool. i politely said no, and he said, 'oh, okay, i've got a pool cue for sale.' about two minutes later another man, who spoke with a speaking valve and asked about the k-car i was driving. he asked if it ran well, what year (1987, btw) and that he had one as well, which he didn't drive much either. they only come out at night, i guess - according to smashing pumpkins.

new wallet

over the weekend p and i did some shopping down broadway between 1st and cedar. probably one the coolest stretches of shops in denver. for my birthday, p's mom sent me some money to purchase a little some'em some'em and i finally found something to purchase. a new wallet. i've been using a wallet that i purchased in china, but it was getting a bit raggy and i needed something new and hip. i'm quite satisfied with the purchase. and yes, p helped pick it out.

photo: wallet

new couch

it's been about ten months since p moved into her apartment; and about four months since i've moved in, all without a couch. p had a couple of designer chairs that graced the floor plan, but were never that comfortable to sit in, let alone sit next to each other. after i moved in, we had a futon couch, but the cat peed on the mattress and it got thrown off the semblence of a porch into a dumpster in the back alley.
so, last week, we broke down and decided to purchase ourselves a couch. fantastic. possibly the best purchase ever. well, maybe not, but pretty darnn close. anyway, over the weekend, we've watch two movies while lounging on the couch and i've fallen asleep during both films.

photo: couch

4th flr pumpkin smashing

sunday, 31 october 2004.
a few years ago, my friend dave had this idea of a pumpkin carving and smashing party. after the first year, the party never seemed to materialized again. since that one party, i've carved two pumpkins and smashed only one- the one from this year.
we live on the fourth floor of an apartment complex that overlooks an alley and just across the alley is a new complex that has taken much too long to build and too many mornings being woken up by construction. subsequently, there are a few dumpsters outlining the alley. so last night, p and i decided to do some pumpkin smashing since halloween was just about over. actually, it was a bit of pumpkin basketball, having aimed for the dumpsters, since we didn't want to leave too big of a mess in the alley (a bit disrespectful to the other residents, but pumpkins are biodegradeable, so whatever).
five minutes later and two pumpkins smashed, we called it a night.

photos: the aftermath I, II