BlakeRoberson.net

The picture on the left is my Dad in the early 90s… The picture on the right is me in my Halloween costume this year.

Generally on my lunch break I go to the dinning room here in my office building, get my lunch, and come back to my desk and eat. I usually take this time to peruse the internets and see what’s going on in the world (This is probably why I seem to know so much random information). However, lately I’ve decided to use this time to try and get more fit.
 
Don’t get me wrong, my current workout routine of doing 50 pushups every morning and running ridiculously long distances is pretty good. However, with summer approaching I decided to try and add a little more muscle. Since the workout room in my office building is literally across the hall from the dinning room, I’ve started lifting weights for about 15-20 minutes each day before lunch. It’s really not a big deal, I am able to fit in one or two body parts a day, I don’t get sweaty, and it helps break things up. Plus it still allows me to run ridiculously long distances in the afternoons (which I’m going to cut back to only 4-5 miles a day after this weekend).
 
So next time you see me, make sure you comment on how swole I’m looking… or I’ll snap your puny neck.

I’ve known for sometime that the lovely redhead girl really wanted to go to the Girl Talk concert this Thursday at the Cannery Ballroom. Unfortunately it’s been sold out for months and tickets on Craig’s List are going for $75 a piece. Even though I couldn’t actually go to this concert because I have class on Thursday nights, I decided to check around to see if I could come up with some tickets anyway. I figured the lovely redheaded girl could easily find a date, and more importantly, she’d have great time.

I called my cousin to see if he could hook me up because coincidently he actually kind of knows the guy that owns the Cannery Ballroom. Sadly, he was no help.

Then yesterday, out of nowhere, I had a flash of inspiration. I realized that Lightning 100 sponsors tons of concerts at the Cannery Ballroom. I hopped on their website and quickly found the email address of the program director and sent him the following email:

From: Blake Roberson
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 12:11 PM
To: David Hall
Subject: Shameless ticket request

David,

Since this is a shameless ticket request, let me begin by saying I’m a huge fan of Lightning 100. I listen to you guys every day and recommend your station to all my friends.

The reason I’m writing is because I wanted to see if you guys had any tickets for Girl Talk at the Cannery Ballroom on Thursday, November 6, 2008. I know Girl Talk isn’t anywhere near the type of music you play and this really is a long shot, but I thought you might know some people. I ask because I’m trying to earn some points with a lady friend of mine.

Also, I was wondering if you guys will be giving away tickets to the Kings of Leon next week. I really like those guys and I love their new album, however I’m somewhat hesitant to spend $37 a piece plus the various service charges. But more than likely I probably will.

By the way, I really am a huge fan of Lightning 100 and I do listen to you guys every day. Keep up the good work.

Blake Roberson | Title | Company I Work For | Phone: (615) 555-5555

Surprisingly later that day he responded with this:

From: David Hall
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 5:23 PM
To: Blake Roberson
Subject: Re: Shameless ticket request

Blake,

I had my people check into it and they say Girl Talk is beyond sold out and there are no tickets, even for us. Sorry.

Thanks a lot though, for listening and for turning others on to us.

DAVID HALL, Operations Manager/Program Director

Even though David Hall wasn’t able to help me out, I thought it was really cool of him to at least look into it.

Sometimes it’s surprising what you can come up with if you just ask.

Ever since my buddy got an iphone I’ve been infatuated with the idea of getting one too. I love the idea that if I had one I’d be able to use it to keep my checkbook reconciled all the time. Also I love the idea that I could use it to update my website whenever an idea comes to me. I say this because let’s face it I don’t update my website enough and it’s not due to lack of ideas. Of course not to be completely nerdy, I also like that I’d be able to use it as my mp3 player, play games, surf the web, etc. It really is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. I guess it’s a good thing that my birthday is coming up in less than a month.

To say that I’ve put some walls up about the idea of getting close enough to a lady friend to have something of a relationship would probably be diving a little too deep into my psyche for this website. However since it is something that’s going on in my life, why not share a little bit?

Just to give you a little background, here’s some info I’ve never put on here before:

• I’ve “casually” been dating this girl from work since January.
• In that 5 months we “casually” dated, we went out roughly 7-8 times.
• We always seemed to have a really good time together.
• I purposely didn’t pursue like I should have for two reasons
• I saw her several times a day at work and the potential for that situation to blow up in my face somewhat scared me
• I’ve been reluctant to the idea of being in a relationship right now (see this post if you’re new) and therefore took things VERY slowly with her.

Then roughly two months ago, she told me that she was entertaining the idea of moving back to Alabama. I didn’t think too much of it, but I kind of started to put more of an effort into spending time with her. I know that I probably did this because I did like hanging out with her and I honestly knew that nothing would ever come out of any type of relationship we built.

Sadly, right before she moved away, I think we both kind of came to the realization that we had really started to like each other.

While this does in fact suck, there are some positives things about this situation. I very much enjoyed all the time that she and I spent together. And I saw what it was like to let some of the walls down. Surprisingly, it’s not so bad; and although I don’t want to admit it, I think I might be open to keeping them down for awhile and seeing where it takes me.

Wish me luck!

On Friday I read this article about NASA buying a space toilet from Russia for $19 million dollars. NASA said that the $19 million dollars was cheaper than it would be to design its own toilet. Since I always more than happy to help my country, I designed my own space toilet. Also, being the true American that I am, I think I’d only charge $18 million for it.

I wonder if America has any other problems that maybe I could solve.

For some time now I’ve felt that people often refer to me as “that pale guy”. Also I worry that I frighten small children who mistakenly think I’m a ghost. I can understand the mix up and why people might think that I’m a borderline vampire. It’s because while I try to be an active guy, I somehow don’t get the opportunity to spend much time in the sun.

Kati told me while we were running one day that she just goes to the tanning bed once a week. She said this prevents her from both being “burnt toast” and considered an albino. After hearing this I thought to myself, “That’s actually a really good idea”.

So if the next time you see me and I don’t look so sickly, you’ll know why.

Yesterday I bought a book to study for the GMAT. If you don’t know the GMAT is the ACT/SAT like test that you have to take to get into grad school. More specifically, you have to take it to go to grad school to get an MBA.

While it’s not really necessary for me to get an MBA, I’ve just really been on the fence about whether or not I wanted to do it. I guess I’m just trying to foresee things a little ways down the road.

Today the idea crossed my brain, that instead of taking a lunch, maybe I should start napping at my desk. I figured that I could eat my sandwich and wheat thins while working. Besides, you only need one hand to do most things in Excel anyway. Also I figured this way I could totally be fresh as a daisy in the afternoon instead of the normally zombie like walking dead creature that I am now.

I may feel it out for awhile before I just decide to crash at my desk tomorrow. If nothing else, it might be nice to just sit there with my eyes closed for a bit.  

The hem on a pair of my work slacks came loose a couple of weeks ago and since then I’ve been meaning to sew it back up. Since I’ve yet to get around to it, I’ve just been folding it under and ironing it down. It hasn’t been a problem, it’s just been driving me insane because I knew that it was messed up and I needed to fix it.

We’ll today I finally decided to do something about it. Instead of breaking out the needle and thread like I should have done, a much easier, “quick fix” came to mind. A few drops of super glue and a hot iron and I was back in business. I’m not sure how long that it’ll hold, but since it only took me all of one minute to fix, I’m not that worried about it. I’ve still got tons of super glue left.