This evening we had our delayed celebration of winning our company's annual Dream Team of the Year award. I was going to take my assistant out to lunch, but my boss wanted to join in and upgrade it to dinner. We went to Gotham Bar and Grill, one of my favorite restaurants in the West Village. Here's a link to their home page where you can see what the restaurant really looks like. My Asian-style grilled cod was fantastic--delicious light sauce with baby bok choy and baby shiitake mushrooms. The portions aren't too huge, but we all knew better than to order an appetizer. My assistant actually ordered dessert after his steak, but my boss and I split a cheese platter and had cappucinos. There was some sort of sheep's milk cheese that was all carved up and swirled around so it looked like an off-white carnation, but was delicious. Nobody ate the chocolate truffles they tossed on the table.

My boss put it on his Amex card, and not his corporate one. I really should split the bill with him because the entire thing was my idea. Yeah, it's expense account expensive, but I don't care. The whole point was to treat my assistant, who won the company's most prestigious award along with my boss and me (and others across various office locations), after only five months on the job. It took me 4.5 years to do it, although I have won various awards of lesser prestige for the past three.

I still feel pretty stuffed, and I'm dog-tired by now, so it's off to bed.

God, I hate the sales department. It promises release of software to book revenue 2-3 months before it will ever be possible to deliver, and stomps an angry foot when it's not going to happen as they promised.

It's all about booking the revenue. And she gets the head of the computer programming department all up in arms, because he doesn't know how to deal with her, other than bark commands at everyone else to make her go away temporarily.

It's my ass in a sling. My own boss is only half backing me up, but will discuss this issue with our CEO tomorrow. I hope this head of sales woman has to swallow a really big dildo, because she is a total jackass. Seriously, if this continues for another three more months, I'll quit without even having a new job lined up. I have bills to pay, like everyone else, but I really don't need the money that badly.

This is Banny. Seriously, I think it's worse being a Neopets owner than a real pet owner. With Emma, I just feed her, and give her a shot of insulin every night after dinner. She gets most of the lap time she demands because she's 15, and getting to be an old fart. I cut her a lot of slack when she interferes while I'm trying to work on the computer.

The Neopets, because they are virtual, are less demanding, but when I visit them, always want to play or eat. Eating can get expensive in Neopia, unless you visit Micky D's or the soup kitchen. All you can get at Micky D's is milk or O.J.. I wonder if you can buy either at a real Micky D's. Every other food place is always sold out, except the soup kitchen for the indigent. One, I don't have a lot of Neopoints, so I'm poor, but two, even if I had gazillions of them, the other food shops are always out of food.

There are ways to rack up points playing games at Neopets, but you have to play the ones that are free instead of for a wager. These, of course, only rack up a few points at a time, and largely depend on your computer's processing speed and internet connection (broadband is almost a must, which I've had for many years now).

So far, I've lost my bet with myself in thinking that this Neopets experiment would last a week before I gave up and put them up for adoption. I've kept Banny alive for twice that by now--and he's a hungry dude! I still don't predict it'll last that much longer. It's a website for kids, and I'm over 40, but I can still appreciate juvenile stuff--up to a point. If I didn't know someone who works there, I probably never would have given the place a gander.

Drive gently. That was the message I saw on one of those mobile signs on the side of the road this evening on my way home from the train station. Actually, the sign's been there for a couple of months, but I kept forgetting to mention it.

WTF? What does that mean? Only hit the other driver at 35 mph or less? Only barge your way out of a strip mall parking lot into oncoming traffic at 5 mph or less? Wave on drivers who don't have the right of way until you get an angry line of 20 drivers behind you leaning on their horns? This ain't Hawaii, folks. It's NJ, home of aggressive people who fished their driver's licenses out of boxes of Cracker Jacks.

Ever wonder why a number of insurance companies pulled their auto insurance business out of NJ several years ago? You don't even have to drive on a highway. Just drive a few local roads and watch all the horse's patooties run stop signs and red lights. And it's just as bad during the day as it is during rush hour. I've seen a few really bad looking wrecks on streets that have 25 mph speed limits, and a guy got killed by the train station a month or two ago crossing the street in the crosswalk when some driver hit him.

The irony reminds me of all the signs I see as I leave Houston's Intercontinental airport reminding me to "drive friendly." In the land of shotguns and pickups where traffic regularly is bumper to bumper going 70 mph? If you drive too friendly, you may never make it out of the airport at all!

My company might get sold. I might be out of a job. It won't happen before next Spring, if it does happen. It really sucks that I had to read about this in the trade press before hearing it from corporate (and discuss it with dad this afternoon), but that's the way these things tend to work.

If I AM out of a job come spring, it's not that big a deal. I prefer to work my ass off for a paycheck because that was what I was raised to do as a kid born in the 60s, but I was also raised to squirrel away a huge chunk of my earnings along the way, so if it happens, I have a really good cushion.

We'll have to wait and see. If I can bail out earlier, and sign on with another company, good. If not, it doesn't really matter. At my age, a steady paycheck is very nice, and I'll work my ass off for it, but it's not the key to the kingdom.

This is the only kind of mouse my cat can catch. Not that there's another variety in the house, but you get the idea...

For anyone new visiting this blog, I love music, even though I have a vocal range of four notes from ribbit to croak, and can't even play a kazoo, nor a comb wrapped with waxed paper. My talents lie elsewhere, but there's nothing wrong with my hearing, and I can recognize good music when I hear it. Sure, I listen to the normal commercial stuff if I like it, but I also love playing music from artists who are really fantastic, but don't get much in the way of airplay.

• Deni Bonet (no pic--visit here)
  

• Bud Buckley (no pic--visit here)

• Pete Droge

• Pete Yorn

It's funny how the blogosphere works. I ran into Deni via another blogger last year, and loved her music, bought her CDs, and followed up with a visit to see her in concert at last Summer's Clearwater Festival, staying all day to see both of her shows, and finally getting to introduce myself to her at the end of the day. Then through Deni, I ran into Bud, and loved his music, and bought it, too.

I bought some Thorns a few months ago, because I loved it, and it had Pete Droge as one of the three guys. Bud likes Thorns too, but found them via the Matthew Sweet route. So I went back and bought some old Matthew Sweet, and loved it.

I wish I knew what Mr. L's bass strings sound like, but I'm sure it's fantastic.

I'm now listening to a Pete Yorn live album from a small venue in Morristown, NJ, that was recorded in 2003. I have several albums of his that are older than this one, but this is my favorite.

~ Froggie

I did it again. Give me a piece of software to numbers-test, and within five minutes, I find a bug. Not necessarily one that produces incorrect numbers; in this case, it is a functionality bug that allows the user to do something they shouldn't, and gives no error message. The program doesn't crash, but it allows you to think you're doing one thing, and the software is handling it a completely different way, which gets confusing. The QA/Development manager is going to report the bug.

To see Lester the Aphid dodge the bullets (okay, soccer balls) our programmers are firing at him, click here.

Froggie's getting a little hungry just watching the movie clip.

Meetings, meetings, meetings.

We had our annual company employee award ceremonies today for Superstar of the Year, and Dream Team of the Year. Of the two, Superstar is deemed the less important, because it recognizes outstanding individual achievement, as opposed to the more highly regarded achievement by a team of diverse people working together across departments. Two years ago, I was a Superstar nominee, but didn't win. That was worth a nominee certificate signed by our CEO that sort of looks like a diploma. Last year I won the Superstar Award. That was worth a $100 AmEx gift cheque, and a winner's certificate signed by our CEO. This year I was on the winning Dream Team! The highest honor the company can bestow. That was worth a $100 AmEx gift cheque and yet another winner's certificate. These things are now taking up half the corkboard in my office!

I joked to my assistant who was also on the winning team that I thought the executive committee was going to pick the team with the fewest members to save a few hundred bucks, but it actually chose the team with the most members. Granted we were all working on the highest profile project the company has worked on over the past couple of years, and we finally have something to show for it that actually has a "wow factor."

Now get this: I still have the gift check from last year, unspent, uncashed. So now I have to figure out what to do with two of them. You can't really use them at a deli, but I suppose I could buy a couple of pairs of socks at Ann Taylor, blow one of them that way, and get my change in cash. I could use the other to take Steve out for a fancy dinner one night, but I already have $100 from my parents for Christmas in real greenbacks to do that; it was stuffed in our Christmas card.

The next meeting was with my CEO to go over our thoughts on company strategy and tactics looking into the future. This is nothing we don't discuss during Leadership meetings and Operations meetings, except that it's one on one. Sure I answered his questions, but I also pumped him for the real scoop on just how much of our revenue goals are determined by what we think we really can bring in vs. what the poohbahs in corporate at our holding company come back and demand of us after hearing our estimate. He was far more forthcoming with that information than I was expecting, and went on to get into details about which department overestimated revenues the most last year. He confirmed everything I already sort of knew, anyway. I was a business management major. The only thing that surprised me was his candor.

The last meeting was just a conference call with a client doing some beta testing on custom software we developed for them, doing some numbers checking, and wanting to see it freeze certain variables after the user manually overrides them and recalculate others rather than vice-versa. No biggie to fix. We should have a new version for them to test early next week.

Long entry, I know. Long day. They sort of go together, sometimes, I guess. But I can deal with an extra $100.

Who knew? I'm a moderator on a 760+ member blogring. I joined almost two years ago, and must have been one of the early ones. Nobody ever told me I was a moderator. I only found out when I went to check my blogring member status last night in the process of updating my blog settings at another venue.

I'm a slacker! I've been neglecting my duty! Not really, since blog moderators do almost nothing for a blogring, unless it's one they started themselves or is one run by a coven of real-life buddies in cahoots with each other. I think it's hilarious, since I haven't even visited the place in perhaps three months.

Thirty lashes with a wet noodle, Froggie. Bad Froggie. Bad.

This is what it was like in the Northeast today. Rainy and extremely windy, to the point of ripping down tree limbs across roads, train tracks and lawns. In the city, people could occasionally be seen hanging onto lamposts on street corners when the wind gusted up to 68 mph. People small and large were being buffeted around in the wind.

I don't think Mary Poppins could fly around in this. That brolly just isn't the right shape for liftoff.

I've been slammed into the side of a building several times before in high winds, and today was no exception. The only difference was that it was a swank apartment building instead of a sports arena. The doorman was kind enough not to laugh. At least not until he got back in the lobby. ;)

The boots arrived today, and were sitting on my front porch when I got home. True to form, Zappos only took a couple of days to get them here, even though they leave themselves 4-5 for the free shipping option. Love the boots. I've never gotten multi-color ones before--just basic black and what started out as tan before I mink oiled them, and is now more of a light brown.

Greg bought his GF a pair of Lucchese boots for Christmas, so it was funny when I ran into him online over the weekend, and pointed him to the picture here. He's from Dallas, so of course he didn't think they were in the least outrageous. He left the company a couple of weeks ago, but used to work for me. Jean's still on staff, and has about eight or nine pairs of cowboy boots in various colors from tan with lavender flowers embroidered on them to a pair that's turquoise and yellow. She'll get a kick out of them, and they really weren't that expensive--about average. I'll wear them tomorrow if it's not icy outside.

I'm really glad I upsized half a size to a 6.5 because unlike my other pairs of Justins I was unable to order them on a combination last and had to order them in medium width. But they fit. My feet look enormous to me in them. Pity the poor soul who has a size 8 or 9 foot. They'd really look like Bigfoot in them!

Now listening:
Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band, "The Fire Inside."

I hesitate to speak so quickly, but it looks like the trolls have been diverted. They're down to one or two hits a day on the old site. Clora, you're the best at showing how getting rid of unwanted readers can be done. And Bud, thanks for breaking the water over here.

Hopefully, more people will find the new digs over the next few weeks. Traffic's way down vs. the old place, but that's to be expected.

Hugs for y'all.

--Froggie

These are my new babies! I know that people either love or hate cowboy boots. I love them! You need a little attitude to walk around in NYC wearing them. I have that. You just need to look like you think nothing's abnormal about wearing them.

Hugs for you all. And I hope you're willing to be seen in public with me while I wear these things. Justins are so comfy!

Laughing Frog: We're back from the commercial break.Tad just brought me some coffee. Tad, will you say "hi" to Tiffany from Newport Beach?

Tad: Um....hi Tiffany.

Laughing Frog: We're not supposed to get into political hot topics here, so I'll ask the audience what their favorite new bands are.

Producer: (two fingers)

Laughing Frog: line 2, you're on.

line 2: Mine's They Might Be Giants.

Laughing Frog: I like them too, but they're not new. Do you like "The Beat Goes On" or "The Relief Project"? What's your name?

Line 2: Never heard of them. Oh, sorry. It's Molly from Austin.

(Tad interrupts, motioning for Tiffany's phone number. His dad points him to the producer.)

Laughing Frog: Well, Molly, what else do you like?

Line 2: Tracy Lawrence.

Laughing Frog: He's good, but this isn't a country station. Thank you Molly. Line 1, you're on.

Line 1: How about some Bruce juice? I'm Vinny from Asbury Park. Or maybe some Southside Johnny?

Laughing Frog: Does "Running on Empty" do it for you?

Line 1: Yeah. Thanks, dude. Luv ya, man!

(plays the song, then cuts to a commercial break)

Laughing Frog: We're back now. For those of you just tuning in, my son Tad is doing an internship at the station while he's off college doing his Jan Plan, and I had him step into the studio to say hello to everyone. His reviews were mixed. He's a little shy. It was his first time on the air using anything but a walkie-talkie. He's a math major. But he's really good at fetching coffee, making photocopies, and sending faxes.

Producer: (points at the phone and signals one finger)

Laughing Frog: Line 1, you're on the air. Who is this?

Line 1: Tiffany from Newport Beach. Hi Frogman. I love your show. Um...like, is Tad cute?

Laughing Frog: Why do you ask?

Line 1: Well he sounded shy like you said, but, like...he just has the sexiest voice! I mean, would I want to share a frozen mochaccino with him on the beach at sunset?

Laughing Frog: That's up to you. If you'd like to leave your name and cell number with our producer, she'll give it to him, and he may or may not give you a call. What are your qualifications?

Line 1: Blonde, 5' 7", 21, look fantastic in a bikini, and drive a convertible 325i.

Producer: (holds up three fingers)

Laughing Frog: Okay, thank you Tiffany. We'll pass along that information. Line 3, you're on.

Line 3: Frogman, I think you're the best! Love your new show. It's been on, what a week now? You're so much better than Imus.

Laughing Frog: Yes, we started last Monday. Who am I speaking to?

Line 3: Oh, sorry dude. This is Chip from Irvine. Hey, can I get Tiffany's number from you?

Laughing Frog: Not from me, but maybe Tad will give you her number when he's done with her.

Line 3: Cool, dude. Thanks!

Laughing Frog: Line 4, you're on. Who's this?

Line 4: Melanie from Costa Mesa. Can I get Chip's number?

Laughing Frog: What do you think this is? A dating service? We'll be right back in a moment. We need to go to commercial break now.

Laughing Frog: (lips the words) Are we on the air yet?

Producer: (nods head yes)

Laughing Frog: Welcome to our new morning show! I'm Frog, and I'd like to introduce my son Tadpole. We call him Tad for short. He's doing an internship here over January at the station. Tad, will you step on over and say hello to everyone out there?

Producer: (waves Tad into the studio, and points to the mike)

Laughing Frog: (motions Tad over to the mike)

Tad: Um, hi there. I'm Tad. I'm just a college kid on January break doing an internship. My dad runs this show. I'm just here for a little while. (Tad steps back away from the mike)

Laughing Frog: Thank you, Tad. Doesn't he have a lovely deep radio announcer's voice? Gotta love that baritone. And now we'll take some calls from the audience.

Producer: (signals that the phone is lit up like a Macy's Christmas display, and gives three fingers)

Laughing Frog: Line three, you're on. What's your name?

Line 3 Guy: Frogman, I loved you when you were on KWOK 109.3, and I love you now, man. Oh, I'm Chris from Islip. And I really like Tad too. He sounds like a cool dude.

Laughing Frog: Thanks. I like him, but I'm really biased. You want to pay for the rest of his college? No? I figured. Next--on line 2. Who is this?

Line 2 Guy: This is Lenny from Tenafly. What were you thinking bringing your kid on the air like that? He has no on-air personality.

Laughing Frog: Lenny, if he were your kid, wouldn't you want him to at least say "hi?" He's doing an internship. He's not a seasoned on-air personality. Were you expecting Howard Stern? He's mostly a gofer around here.

Line 2 guy: Okay, I guess.

Laughing Frog: And now we have to go to a commercial break.