Bonesnap

So if you read my last post you’ll remember I was in Denver, Colorado doing some consulting work. It was the middle of the week and I was following my daily routine. I woke up, showered, got ready for work, walked through the hotel lobby, get in my car and head to the office.

This particular morning while I was walking through the hotel lobby I spotted at least five police officers milling around. Since I have the ‘don’t give a shit attitude’ I really didn’t give a shit why. I went to my car and seen several cop cars patrolling the parking lot.

Of course in my mind, I’m thinking “Oh man, I bet some gay dude was hitting on men in the elevator and someone killed him!” . However, I made it to work and the whole cop drama left my mind. Work went by pretty quick and I was back at the hotel and this time there were twice as many cops in the lobby and parking lot.

I went to my room, changed cloths, grabbed my USA Today, and headed across the street to Wendy’s for dinner (I know .. pretty sad isn’t it). I finished up dinner and came back to the hotel.

I was walking to the elevator and passed two police officers going the opposite direction. It was a man and women officer. I took note that both of them were maybe 5’1 or 5’2 at the most. Figured their career in law enforcement was due to ‘short man syndrome’. As, I passed them I did my customary ‘head nod’ and kept walking.

Right before I get to the elevator I hear this ‘jingling of metal’ sound. I knew what it was because I’ve heard it before. It was the sound of officers running and all their cuffs and metal gear on their belts jingling around. It’s a pretty unique sound. I have a lot of police friends that I used to eat lunch with while they were on duty. And it never failed, they’d get a emergency call and take off running.

Then I hear ‘HEY YOU! STOP”. I turn around and these two officers were run full bore at ME! They had their hands on the gun hostler ready to draw. Now, there is one issue that I have since talked to my officer friends and wife about.

Regardless of what you know or think you know, the first thing that popped into my mind was “RUN!” Even though I had absolutely no reason to flee I wanted too. I can’t explain why. In hindsight I should have because I always wondered if these to small officers could have taken me down.  I can see where anyone else who has any type of criminal history will run regardless.

Back to my story, so I stop and waited for the officers to get to me. The little guy pushed me up against the wall and handcuffs me.

So I ask “What’s going on?”. My question was ignored and I was asked what my name is. I told them my name and I asked again, “What’s going on?”, “Why am I handcuffed?”.

I was thinking to my self, “Yep.  Someone killed the gay dude from the elevator and now I’m a suspect.”.  They told me to “Claim down”. At this point I’m getting pissed. I’m not sure what my “rights” are but I’m under the impression that I have to be informed why I’m being detained against my will. So, I told the lady officer,  “It’s easy for you to tell me to claim down. Your not the one in cuffs up against a wall.” The short officer asked me “You have any I.D.?” and I told him “Yeah, it’s in my wallet.”

I kid you not,  he asks “Can you get it for me?” I guess he forgot I was handcuffed up against the wall. I told him “Not at the moment,  I have handcuffs on.”

So, this little bastard took my wallet out of my back pocket and started going through it. He then called his partner over there and they were looking at my picture and talking. At this point I’m lost, I have no clue what the hell is going on.

After a few minutes the woman officer un-cuffed me. The little guy handed my wallet back and apologized for the situation. They inform me that a wanted fugitive with multiple felonies who is considered very dangerous has been spotted in the hotel this week.  That explains all the officers in the parking lot and lobby. The officer informs me that I look just like the suspect.

Yeah, right, I figured it was just some over zealous officers quick to grab anyone. Then the little guy says here look for yourself.

I look at the wanted poster of the criminal and nearly fell over. If I had a identical twin, this guy was it.

If I was in the officers place I’d arrested me. I’m surprised that I wasn’t pulled over or arrested already.

To make matters worse this little ‘show’ happened in the lobby of the hotel. From that point on every time I walked through the lobby everyone would shut up and just stare at me.

Next time I go, I think I’ll stay in a Hilton.

During one of my glorious consulting assignments I was working in Denver, CO for about six months. Denver is a very pretty place and in my opinion has one of the best airports I’ve ever flown out of. I was staying downtown in very nice Marriot Hotel. I have been shacked up in this hotel for quite some time now.

I’m a creature of habit and I do not stray far from my hotel. After work, I grabbed the complementary copy of USA Today left in my room and walked across the street to Wendy’s.  Just a quick note: when you travel if you want everyone to know your from out of town, read a USA Today. Anyway, it was late around 8 or 9 Pm. I finished up my double order of chicken nuggets and headed back to my hotel room.

My room was on the 7^th floor and entered the elevator in the lobby when another gentleman, from his looks had just come from the gym also entered the elevator. On the way to my room he started a conversation:

“What’s up?”- him

“Not much.”-me

“Same here.”-him

“Just finished lunch. Going to go watch some T.V.”-me

“You want some company?”-him

I am a very witty man. However, at this particular time I was at a loss for words. “Do I want some company?” – What kind of fucking question is that? You’re a dude! Dudes don’t ask each other if they want company in a hotel room! OMG, what to I do!

Was he gay? No clue but I figured he was. He might have just wanted some companionship and nothing in the ‘gay’ realm. However, through some type of ‘heterosexual’ imprinting my body went into the ‘flight or fight’ response.  Let me tell you now, there was no ‘fight’ in there. It was all ‘flight’. I wanted to get the hell out of there with the LEAST amount of physical contact.

I finally responded with a “ No thanks.”  I stuck my head in the corner of the elevator and was hoping to god that he wasn’t on the same floor as I. After what seems like hours I got off on my floor and he went to a different one.

The next thing I did must have been one of the most stupidest things I’ve ever done in my life.

I called my wife and told her.

After 30 minutes of pure laughter she claimed down enough to tell me that she would have to call me back.  Yeah, that was after she called and messaged all her friends. It wasn’t long after that I started getting all kinds of calls and text messages from friends and family ragging on me. 

Needless to say, that little incident has provided more than it’s fair share of laughter through out the years.

Diversity

I was told by a friend that I need to post more of ‘life’ type of a stories. This is my attempt to do that.

I have worked in IT all my life. During the internet bust several years back I found my self unemployed. I managed to land a job right away doing consulting work for a utility company in Connecticut. In summary, the utility company had installed some software that my previous employer had created.  Now, they needed some help with it.

The IT field is a melting pot for diversity. You will the encounter all types of races, religions, people.  Nothing prepared me for the diversity I’d encounter in Hartford, Connecticut.

I showed up  to the office to meet a young team lead named “Josh”.  I quickly learned that “Josh” was suffering from the most severe case of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). He was so off the charts that I later found out he was not allowed to have any products that had caffeine or sugar in them.

However, that wasn’t the ‘diverse’ part about Josh. You see, Josh had a tick. Josh would constantly rub his nose.  Not once a minute, not twice a minute, it was more in realm of 15-20 times a minute. I thought at first he just had a cold or maybe just had a booger that he couldn’t’ get out.

However, that wasn’t the case. I know this tick was harmless, think of how distracting it is when your team lead is showing a presentation and all you see is his hand rubbing his face all the time. I also, didn’t want to shake his hand.

Josh took me to meet the rest of the team. The next individual I met (can’t remember his name) was in control of the software that does the daily builds. Josh, introduced us and I started talking about the complex and asking what type of equipment they use, etc. The guy just looked at me like I was stupid. That was when Josh told me to that I needed to look him in the face.

This guy was deaf. I had to look him in the face because  he could read my lips. This again made meetings really hard. When everyone spoke they had to look him in the face so he could read. It was really awkward because I never just look at one person when I give status or speak in front of a group.

After finishing up with the deaf guy Josh took me to meet one other member of his team. I went around to a cubical where this guy was seated in a chair that was really high in the air. I didn’t pay much attention to it at first. Josh introduced us (I forgot his name too) and I went to shake his hand. They guy said “I don’t think you want to do that”.

That’s when I realized this guy had no hands. For that matter he had no arms. He programmed with his feet. He did everything with his feet. His chair was high off the ground so he could type on his desk with his feet.

So when we had a team meeting there was a guy who always rubbed his nose, a man taking notes with his feet, and another man who couldn’t hear and would look at you like a hawk if you spoke.

Well it’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog and applications so here is a quick update. Like normal I have WAY too many irons in the fire. I wish I was a millionaire and could just hire folks to help me out.

Life is pretty funny, a lot of the things I like to do have no monetary value what so ever. Yet, they make me laugh and feel good. I think this is what an artist feels like since very few folks understand their work.  (btw…I’m not saying I’m artist by any measure)

I did manage to get my Diablo 3 and Star Craft 2 gadgets uploaded to windows live gallery. What sucks is I have no information when these games will ever come out. This reminds me that I need to check the drop date I posted in the gadgets! Other wise they will go off prematurely and I will have some unhappy people.

Pretty much since Modern Warfare 2 came out I don’t do a lot of anything. I know it’s pretty sad. However, I think I’ve burn myself out on it and last night I just watched a movie instead.

I have some short stories to finish up and also a few machinimas that I’ve been working on.  It’s just so hard to get motive after the holidays.  

In the past several months I’ve been working pretty heavy in Vegas Movie studio. I think I found a passion that I truly enjoy. Creating videos and editing them is something that I really enjoy. However, the software to support that habit is really expensive.

I finally got my hands on Riot Gear and Evolution from video co-pilot. I scored them off of eBay for a fraction of the retail price. In a nut shell Riot Gear is some stock footage and grundge type back drops you can use in your videos. It has some awesome ink bleeds and paint splatter marks.

Bad thing about Riot Gear is you have to chroma key it. It works for most of the stock footage but some of the bigger ink bleeds has shadows which make the video look kind of silly. I had seen examples on youtube about compositing tracks but I think that’s in the pro edition of Sony Vegas.

Evolution is better; all the motion stock footage is set up using an alpha channel so the transparencies are fluid. What really sucks is I was hyped about getting my hands on this software but I don’t have really a reason to use them.

I’ve been converting family vhs tapes to DVD and adding some stuff here and there. But I can’t exactly justify adding grudge textures and ink bleeds too little bobby’s birthing video now can I?

Hopefully with my next few machinimas I can create some kick ass intros.

My son really likes Call of Duty: World at War. I’m not such a big fan of the game myself. However, the zombie map packs are quite fun. The newest one was called Der Riese and it was released in September.

The map pack far surpasses any of the other ones. The developers added in numerous weapons and upgrades, teleporters, the works.

However, one issue you will run into after a few rounds is the one hit kill zombie. If you do not have any items that bolster your health any hit from a zombie will kill you.

My son calls it’s the “Chuck Norris” slap. So, I made a quick little movie one night because I thought it was funny.

Tell me what you think.