mikegull

Breakfast in the woods

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 11:11 on 29 December 2007

Kris and I dashed up to Mike and Kate's for breakfast this morning (where dash means "show up 40 minutes late"). Of course, I forgot my camera in the car when Kris and I went in. Kris hasn't been up to the house very much, so when he walked in, Liza was quite surprised. She looked up at him, put one hand on a hip, and announced, "I usually see just Kitt here."

Kris managed not to laugh.

Katie and Alex were up at the house, too. He and Maeryn played well together, though spending time with Liza means Maeryn behaves older than any other kid her age.

I managed to make pumpkin waffles again, this time with nutmeg instead of cinnamon, in deference to Mike. They were still tasty. I swear, that waffle iron (thanks Bharat and Jen!) is getting more use than any other appliance I own.

Except maybe the dish washer.

Maybe.

Greener grass

Blog Instead of being asleep at 16:38 on 9 November 2007, kitt created this:

Talked to Mike today. He took today off, having worked until midnight for the previous two nights trying to complete a Herculean task that, well, really was more than one person should have to do. He was just tossed the task and told to make it happen. Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to hire the people he needs to delegate.

He was in good spirits, but told me several times, "The grass isn't always greener on the other side."

Yeah, I know this. I understand the amount of freedom Doyle and I have with the current working situation. I realize there are exchanges made: time for money, freedom for security, flexibility for comfort. It happens. The trick is finding the balance that doesn't chafe, that fits well, that, well, just works.

I haven't found it yet. Here's hoping I find it soon.

Time for a change

Blog kitt decided around 20:10 on 12 October 2007 to publish this:

I asked Mike today if I could exchange cars with him, handing him the new car for his Volvo station wagon. He laughed at me, and said sure, what's up? When I explained Kris couldn't drive a stick shift offered to show him the pictures, Mike declined.

I hadn't seen him in a while, with his being off at a client for the last, well, few months, so after exchanging cars, I kept talking. We chatted about life, the kids, the dogs, spouses, the company, our clients. Mike mentioned the client he's been working at has made him an offer that, well, having refused the previous two, is so good, he's inclined to take. "An offer you can't refuse?" "Yeah."

Honestly, after leaving with his car, I felt relief. I was happy that a decision had been made, that we were going to move forward with the company. Part of me was a little disappointed, as I had finally come to terms with the current work situation. That part is small, though. The overwhelming feeling is of excitement of opportunity.

Mmmmmmm... Alexanders

Blog Posted by kitt at 12:32 on 20 September 2007

Mike was in the office yesterday. Having him in the office is fun, since we rarely see him anymore. One client is kicking his butt, which is worrisome given Mike's propensity to give his all to the detriment of his own health. (Gee, do we know anyone else who does that?)

Somehow, we ended up on the topic of last names. I think it was after Mike found some Lake Doyle and commented that Chris had a lake named after him. I mentioned that Doyle isn't exactly an uncommon last name (is it even an uncommon first name?). We talked about last names this and last names that, when Mike said that, hey, Gull isn't as common of a last name as you might think. Well, I don't know, how common did he think I thought Gull was?

Not that common, he continued. I'm not sure which of us said it first, but both of us believed that our own name was less common than the other's name. Doyle excepted, of course. No way, no way, he said, Gull is less common than Hodsden. No way, no way, I insisted, Hodsden is less common than Gull.

"Wanna bet?" he asked.

"Sure. What's the bet?" I answered.

"Dinner."

"Oh? Home cooked or out?"

"Alexanders, of course."

"You're on."

Doyle pointed out that we had to agree on the spellings we were looking for. Hudson is a lot more common than Hodsden, as is Hodgson, too. Gulll with three Ls, probably even rarer. We were going with how each of us spelled our last names on legal documents. Fine.

We then started looking online for resources on name commonality ranking. The few sites he checked my last name gave an error, so Mike went on to other sites, looking for the relative rankings of the popularity of our last names. Site after site after site had Gull, two Ls, ranked around 33669, and Hodsden unranked. After the third or fourth site, Mike conceded, just as Andy walked in to my loud, boisterous cheers.

"I just won a $600 dinner! Whoo!"

Andy looked a bit scandalized. Who would pay $600 for a dinner?

Well, Mike would when he lost a bet. A doozy of a bet.

Clients galore!

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 15:52 on 2 April 2007

Mike came into the office today, warning Doyle and I we may have lost a client. All three of us were working full tilt on the emergency, get this six week project done in two weeks project, and none of us had worked on the small tweaks the first client needed done.

Just after saying this, Mike turned away, and started working on yet another third project for a different client than the first two just mentioned.

Doyle and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, thought, "eh," and went back to finishing up that two week project.

I'm not sure what else we were supposed to do.

Update: Apparently, Mike is hurt and angry at this post, feeling I left out critical facts about this event. Fortunately, this is my blog and I can write whatever the hell I want. Hell, I can even mother fucking thrice damned curse on this blog if I fucking want to.

That's the beauty of having my own site.

So, he fucking wanted me to say that he fucking received an EMERGENCY super dooper REALLY IMPORTANT email from the client whose project he went to work on.

So, there. The rest of the fucking facts.

When I get lunch

Blog Posted by kitt at 13:12 on 20 March 2007

Mike: "That was easy," referring to my heading out of the office to pick up lunch for the three of us.

Me: "Of course it was easy! You just sat on your ass the whole time!"

Nothing like a dose of reality on the little comments.