Keepin' it real, while keepin' it safe

2006-09-06T21:26:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone out there!

It’s been a long time since I last posted. Almost 3 weeks to be exact. You are probably wondering what I have been up to…or maybe not!

Here’s some things that have happened since the last time I blogged. We had Dusty’s bachelor party. It was pretty fun. We grilled out on Nikhil’s parent’s porch. It rained for a bit, but we didn’t let that ruin the night. We got to shoot the shit for awhile and talk about old times. I ended up wussyin’ out early cause I had to get my shut eye for the weekend. Dusty didn’t stop there though. They ended up going downtown for awhile and got Dusty good and schnookered.

Friday we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Everything went well. I got to see some of my old friends from college too! The rehearsal dinner was pretty eventful as well. All I am going to say is that squirrel on the wall was being very giving w/ that ear of corn! What a fun time! After the rehearsal we went downtown, and by ‘we’ I mean everyone from the wedding party except Dusty, Liza, and some of the less adventurous bridesmaids. Maria came into town that night as well. She got to see what the Corn Palace festival was all about! Man was she impressed! Ha ha. We stayed downtown for awhile, but ended up going home so we wouldn’t be worn out for the wedding. Plus, the groomsmen had to be up at 8:00am to help decorate for the reception and Maria was going to come along as well to help with that too.

Saturday was the big day. Maria, John Schuh and I went to help decorate for the reception at Wild Oaks with the other groomsmen, ushers, and fathers. Dusty had a theme to the reception of ‘Night at the Movies’. It was pretty neat. Dusty’s dad kept telling me “you did pretty good Adam” every time he walked past Maria and I while we were decorating. I am not sure if he was talking about my natural ability to do wedding decorations or Maria….;) After the decorating we went to Perkins for brunch. Then I went home to change into my tux and then went to have the pictures taken for the wedding. After that, ummm…much after that actually, the ceremony started. It was a good ceremony. We kept the mistakes to a minimum. The only thing that was noticeable was when all the groomsmen got up thinking we had to go back up near the alter, but ended up all we had to do was stand up. Then we stood outside to let everyone out of the church. It was really hot in the black/red tuxes, but I stuck it out ‘til the end. Then came the reception. It was a great time there as well. Had a few drinks, did a few dances, had some good fun with my friends and then called it a night. Maria had a few drinks herself, which was an oddity for me to see. But it was alright, she can hold her own :) She even had a shot w/ me and some of my friends. All-in-all it was a good wedding. Congrats Dusty and Liza!

Sunday was pretty good as well. Maria and I went to church and then went to my grandparents’ house for what turned out to be lunch. After that Maria and I went to Main Street to check out some of the rides, specifically the Ferris Wheel as I had never been on one before. Don’t ask my why; I just hadn’t been on one until then. We also went on the tilt-a-whirl and the scrambler; both of the rides were very fun. By that time it was time for Maria to head home as she had to meet up w/ her parents back in Sioux Falls. That put an end to that weekend.

Monday through Thursday was pretty uneventful except I had my car in the shop…AGAIN to have the multiple noises in my car looked at and find out why they were there in the first place. Also, I figured since it was there I could have the oil changed as well. So, the only loaner vehicle they had was a 2003 Chevy Astro van, and I figured it was going to be a quick fix so I took it. Little did I know how in depth this was going to be. This ended up being a 4 day ordeal which only irritated me by their inability to follow up with me on their progress and follow through w/ their promises. I said it before, and I will say it again. If it wasn’t for Palace being the only Chevy dealership to do warranty work in a 30 mile radius, I wouldn’t go there. I will leave out the rest of the details, and if you want them, just ask me about them. We also went to Wing night on Wednesday to celebrate Bobby D.’s last week at DSU.

Friday I finally got my car back. Just in time for my trip to Sioux Falls to see Maria over Labor Day weekend. I got to see a lot of her, 4 days worth. It was great. We went to see a movie, I got to eat a meal prepared by her, we went shopping, I met her parents, watched movies at her place, and went disc golfing w/ her. I am sure there is stuff that I am leaving out, but I figured you guys don’t want to hear about the boring stuff.

That brings me to this week. No big plans as it is a short week. This weekend I am going to Sioux Falls to meet up w/ Dirk and Jamie and check out the Sidewalk Arts Festival. It should be pretty good. I am pumped to see Dirk and Jamie since I haven’t seen them since Nathan’s wedding. Other than that no big plans.

Well, keep it real everybody! I'll try to post a little more regularly so that they aren't so lengthy next time!

HAFNER OUT!

2006-09-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

2006-08-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

I haven’t blogged since last week so I thought I would give you a recap. There weren’t many great moments since then, but I will tell you about the things that stick out. I pretty much ended the week at work without troubles. Had a good work week though. Wednesday I went to Sioux Falls to go to a Canaries game. It was DSU Alumni night so I went up to SF w/ Jeff and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings before the game, but Maria couldn't come because of work. She coincidentally had won 2 tickets for the same game so I got to sit with her for the entire game. We even almost got hit by a foul ball! The Canaries lost...SNAP! Then after that we all went back to Buffalo Wild Wings for 2 beers then I went home. Win or lose, Canaries games are fun. Ask Ned, he even did a drunken Jig on the bleachers. There was a drunken group sitting infront of Maria and I that were the center of entertainment as well. Plus, where else can you go and see a bunch of guys dressed up like Elvis, two guys dressed up to resemble ketchup and mustard bottles? Gas to SF.....$15, 1 beer and wings at BWW...$13.00.......Hangin out w/ your friends and your gf at a Canaries game.....PRICELESS!

Friday I went to a party at a house from a guy from work, then went to Sneaker’s for a beer to wish another guy from work a good trip back to Rapid and then to Burr Street Barbeque for supper then to the bar for 2 beers before Snakes on a Plane w/ Jeff, Carl, Jung, Phil and Ortman. It was a funny show, even though it wasn’t marketed to be funny. We finished there and went back down for a couple beers at the Jackpot before heading home for the night.

Saturday was pretty fun as well. I helped out at the Pediactic Caring for Kids Golf Tournament most of the morning and part of the afternoon. Then I did some mowing for dad around the house. After that I went to one of the nurses house for an ‘After Tournament Party’. It was pretty fun. Had a couple beers w/ them told some stories, joked around a bit and then I called it a night. They are a pretty funny bunch!

Sunday was the big day! Maria came up to Mitchell to meet my parents and find out how exciting it is in Mitchell on a Sunday afternoon. My parents, Maria and I went to church, then we went to have lunch at Doc & Eddy’s. There are some embarrassing stories from that situation, but I won’t post them here. After that Maria and I went to get a tour of *THE* Corn Palace. Normally I wouldn’t go on such a trip, but Maria hasn’t been in there for awhile, and it was my sister’s last day being a tour guide so we got to be my sister’s LAST tour for the summer! What a way to end a career! After that we went frolfing (Frisbee + Golfing = Frolfing). I am sure she beat me, but she thought it was a tighter competition than I make it out to be. It was a par 27 course and I am sure I hit the 40s if not the 50s where as she might have gotten to the low 30s. Good times for two beginners. We went to Cabela’s as well. Had to see the ‘stuffed animals’ and the fish tanks. After that we went back to my house and watched a couple movies and supper with mom, dad and Lindsay. Then after that we went and watched movies for awhile and then Maria had to go home. So ends the weekend of Adam Hafner. All in all it was a good weekend.

This week looks to be pretty boring besides Dusty’s bachelor party, rehersal, wedding and the best part of all…the wedding dance! More to come on those events as soon as I am able to post on them!

Hafner….OUT!

2006-08-14T05:12:00.000-07:00

*sound the horns* It's been another weekend here in Mitchell. This weekend was my sister, Lindsay's, birthday. Happy Birthday sis. It was her sweet 16. It was also my cousin's wedding and my dad's cousin's 40th birthday. So there was a lot of celebrating goin on. The dance was pretty fun. I got to see most of my family again. My uncle Brian is a wild guy though. He was ALL over the place. Clinton came and hung out w/ me at the wedding as well. Nothin too extravagent went on though.

Well that was Saturday night, but I skipped right over Friday. I guess I am all over the place too :P. Friday wasn't too busy. I got off work and I finally got my car back. So watch for a Silver Bullet near you! Then I met Clinton, Carl and Jeff for a beer downtown. They were leaving to go to Madison that night so they didn't stick around. Then Clinton and I went to Dr. Lucky's for supper. We called it a night after that since we were getting up on Sat at 6 to go to Madison and pick up a wash/dryer from Michelle's (fiance) parents.

Now back to Sunday. Sunday didn't have much goin on either. Since we had so much rain on Sat night, I had to go and empty water from my boat. Not fun. Pretty much wasted the afternoon away until about 2:00ish. Then I went to Sioux Falls. I had the intentions of going to get a new DVD player since my old one broke and then also go shirt shopping. I got the DVD player but not the shirt shopping. I went over to Maria's and we watched Mystic River. What a bad movie. I am not sure how Clint Eastwood could have made such crap. It was such a slow moving movie and it was like nothing was happening and then the movie was over. The plot was not good and the story had too many unanswered parts to it. All-in-all, it was a good time.

I am going to a Canaries game w/ Maria on Wednesday so that should be fun. Jeff andI are going together since DSU is having an Alumni day at the game as well so he is getting free tickets. Then next weekend I have to volunteer at the Pediatric Caring for Life golf tournament that I always help out at. Other than that, my week/weekend will be pretty boring.

Good night and good luck,

Hafner OUT!

2006-08-10T18:16:00.000-07:00

So today I will recap yesterday and today. So work wasn't too exhausting yesterday. Just busy work. Made the day go by faster. Then right after work Carl, Jeff and I went to Madison to taste the delectible wings! They were JUST like I remember them. Covered in sauce, just warm enough to enjoy with your fingers and they brought me a cup of the Gold Feaver sauce for dippin' my curly fries in. JUST like I always like it! I got to see my buddies, Dusty, Jason and his gf Beaner, Miles, Bobby, Jung, and Phil. It was a good time! Pictures of the event are soon to come once Miles emails them to me....

Today I spent the whole day in a training class for the application that I support. It was pretty educational. Then I got off work and came home. I found out today that Clinton became a new father today. Congrats Clinton and Michelle! I got home and mom was not in the best of mood. I guess she's been stressed, I just wish she didn't think to take it out on everyone else. Not really fair. Dad decided that in his computer wisdom, that by unplugging the router that it would fix the problem with mom not being able to print. Those years of networking and printing experience paid off....NOT. So I had to go and fix the problem. Turned out mom's computer just needed to be restarted. So yeah, I am hoping that the night ends quietly and that mom's vacation (Friday and next Monday) will calm her down to normal levels.

Wish me luck,

Hafner OUT!

2006-08-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

So, my dad is trying to kill me. Late last week we started having issues with our water smelling like rotten eggs. Dad tried turning up the temperature on the water heater to see if that was the issue. It wasn't. It made for a REALLY hot shower though. So then yesterday he decides to pour 3 gallons of bleach into the inlet to our house water hoping it would disinfect our pipes or whatever that was in the pipes. What an awesome feeling to shower in warm pool water. For the entire day I smelled like bleach. I had a headache. My skin itched and my eyes were bloodshot. It was AWESOME! Dad then asked me later "How's it goin Chlorine Kid?". ARRRGGGG. He figures that at least I am disinfected now. Its so awesome to feel clean....who needs skin anyways? I've always wanted to be a blonde...NOT! Hopefully this is the end, but if he is really trying to kill me, please, let this be my testimony if it ever goes to court after I die.

Other than that...pretty uneventful day. I did some stuff with our Software DB application this morning and did some software testing this afternoon. Kept me busy for most of the day. A funny story from work though....I was working w/ Dan O. from Internal Dev and he was at my desk and my phone started ringing. Since I can't answer the phone, since I don't know how to help the customers yet, I have kinda zoned out the sound of the phone ringing, but Dan didn't. So he looks at me and says "You're phone's ringing" and I subconciously thought "well, Dan knows the phone system so he must have known that the call was for me" so I go to pick up the phone, then it occurs to me *DING* "Adam, you don't know what you are supposed to say or do with this customer why are you picking up the phone?". I said "wait, what am I doing...." But it's too late. I answer the phone a fraction of second later saying "....................Hello?" *long pause* since I didn't identify myself, the department or the company. Then he says "Is this Support?" VERY confused. So then I freak out, look at phone as though I was a monkey and it was a giant computer. Some how Tomi from across the hall heard me and saw on the phone system that I picked up the phone and came over and had the customer hold on and she transferred it to her desk phone. It was the funniest thing for me all day.

Tonight is Talladega Tuesday, so we'll see how that is....

That is all.

Hafner OUT!

2006-08-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's taken me a day to make one post for the entire weekend. I've been recouperating. I am not going to get into the details of the weekend, or the wedding, or any other events. I am just going to say that the wedding was fun...15mins of pure nuptial bliss, followed by a awesome meal, I got to hang out w/ my friends from USD, and then the dance followed. I had a great time, made some great memories. Congrats Heidi and Nathan!

I came home on Sunday and met up with Dirk and Jamie at Cabela's for awhile. Then when I left cause they said they were going home, I was leaving Cabela's and started to turn south on highway 37 thinking that I was going back to Vermillion as well. Didn't realize it until about 1/4 mile later and then turned around and went home....NORTH of town.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at home. I talked to my buddy Clint that lives in Yankton yet. Who *says* he is gonna come up here sometime soon once he has a car he can trust to make it to Mitchell.

Work today was pretty uneventful, but I had a bunch of busy work so the day flew bye. I got to shadow another of my co-workers today too.

I had to take the Silver Bullet to the shop today to have the body work done on it. Finally I will have the scratches removed and it will look like new again! The guy said it should be done by the end of the week. They gave me a nice loaner car too. At least when compared to my experiences in the past. It is a tan '05 Ford Taurus, fully loaded. Not as sporty as my car, but it is comfortable and better than the beasts that Rasmussen Motors always gave me in Vermilion.

Jeff, Carl, I, and maybe some others are probably going to Talladega Nights tomorrow for cheap movie night. So that should be fun. Then on Wednesday we are going to Wing Night in Madison. That should be fun as well since I haven't been back there for about 2 years.

Alright, That's all,

Hafner OUT!

2006-08-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am again. Yesterday was pretty uneventful, but I found a way to tolerate it! It was 'Treat Day" at work in honor of my first week at work. I did alot of reading manuals again. I also got to do some shadowing w/ Machelle at work. She's pretty funny.

After work, I figured I would keep w/ my tradition of hanging out w/ friends/coworkers after work. I had to wait FOREVER before Jeff would finally get off work since he is a programmer kinda guy he thinks he has to stay late all the time. Ha ha. We went down and had some supper w/ another guy from work. My old buddy Dusty showed up w/ Liza and Mike and his sister showed up too. Dusty's dad showed up to. All in all it was a good way to end the week.

We even got to see the ghetto car again drivin around w/ the plywood wing and ground effects!

Then I came home and watch Spider Man 2 and went to bed.

I am kinda pumped about the wedding tomorrow cause I will get to see my friends from USD again. I know it's only been a week, but it feels like forever (especially for Dirk and Jamie since I saw them daily and now I haven't seen them at all). But, we'll see. It could be the worst day ever as well! Ha ha!

Only time will tell.

Until next time,

Hafner OUT!

2006-08-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Another day goes by again. Today was pretty uneventful. I did a lot of reading again. Every time I finish one manual, I have another one waiting for me around the corner. It’s ok though because it just means I will be that much more prepared when I start working with the program. I also got to finish up a video on advanced telecommunication concepts. It was pretty interesting too. They are all involving the same speaker though, which, I have determined through deductive reasoning, is definitely a Canadian or at the VERY least from northern Minnesota. First off, his over use of the word ‘about’ and his odd pronunciation of it as ‘aboot’ is a dead give away. Secondly, he over-syllablizes words as well. Such as “mobile” when referencing cell phones he pronounces it as “mo-bial”. Along with some of his other verbal references to the US government and telecommunication standards just makes me believe he is Canadian. I suppose that the fact that he is a Mechanical and Electrical engineer might have something to do with it too. I hear they can be pretty snobbish as well. I was watching the last of the videos, which was on wireless phones, and the thing started freezing up on me all the time. This irritated me because I was looking forward to that video since it was on something that wasn’t that old, unlike the POTS systems stuff I had been watching. I looked at the bottom of the disc and it looked like it had been set out in the heat or something because there were physical bubbles in the reflective surface of the DVD, so I didn’t get to finish that DVD.

One funny thing that happened yesterday was that I was driving downtown and once again realized how hillybilly Mitchell still is. I saw the most whitetrash imitation of a riceburner I have ever seen in my life. I thought it was a Celebrity, but Carl says it was a Topaz, either way, the base vehicle itself was ghetto. Then they had spray painted the car black and mounted a racing wing on the back of it. Yes, a racing wing. I don’t know about you, but I have never been around any Celebrity OR Topaz that would have benefited from the added downforce from a wing since most of them govern out, but maybe that was another modification to the vehicle that I wasn’t able to see demonstrated, BUT that’s not all folks. This wasn’t *any* racing wing. It was a homemade racing wing. It was made of metal supports (spray painted black), but the actual fin was made up of 2 pieces of plywood that were spray painted black to match the support arms and the vehicle….DUH….you wouldn’t want that kinda thing not matching the car!! Then after I took a second look at the car I noticed that the wing also had 2 CB antennas mounted on either side of wing that were again, painted black. Now, you are probably saying to yourself, “Wow Hafner, that’s pretty ghetto”. You would be right, but that’s not the end either. To top this masterpiece of motoring, it had a ground effects kit on it as well, but to fit the concept of the vehicle it was also homemade. That’s right, a homemade ground effects kit. Apparently Kmart was all sold out of the manufactured kits…I dunno. This wasn’t an ordinary kit either. It was also made of a plywood material, painted black and made the front of the car resemble a stock car racing car rather than a riceburner. To top it all off it was also equipped with a fart pipe on the muffler to accentuate the manly, mean, powerhouse that was housed within the engine compartment. I could just hear “the Toolman” grunting and saying “more power”, but then you realized it was a crappy 4 cyl Ford/Chevy which equates to only a couple more horses than if you put 4 mice on a exercise wheel and had a piece of cheese dangling in front of the cage. If there is another sighting of this vehicle I will be ready for it and I will be posting a picture so that you may all laugh at it as I did.

I got to wash my car after work too. It was begging for it. I haven’t washed it in a couple months plus I am going to have the scratches from my hit-and-run finally fixed so I figured if it was clean they could see all the scratches easier. Plus I vacuumed it out and washed the floor mats. The estimate I got the other day said that it was going to be about $1300 in damage. The guy that hit me is pretty lucky that he decided to run away like a pussy. So I get to have my insurance pay for the repairs now. Which means I will have a loaner car most of next week since they said it would take about a week to get all the work done. My hopes are kinda high since Carl said that they gave him a “crappy Impala” when he took his car there last time. I don’t have too many issues with an Impala and Carl said the only reason it was “crappy” was because it wasn’t cleaned out, which I think I could handle. I think its funny that last weekend when Clinton and Michelle came to Vermillion to move me that they both said that my car “still smelled new”, but I suppose it would when I don’t allow smoking in my car, I don’t cook or spray shit in my car and I never use air fresheners or anything other than carpet cleaner and other cleaning products on the interior unlike…um….EVERY car he’s ever owned which is always been about 5-6 years old and he’s always smoked in or spilled shit in. This is why he can’t have nice things!

Other than that, my night was pretty uneventful last night. Carl, Jeff and I went to the Scoreboard and had a few beers outside since the weather was awesome and watched for the ghetto Topaz to drive by a couple times. Nothing too impressive, just something to do for an hour or so.

Well, I suppose I’ll let you all go. I think from now on, my posts will be getting shorter. I think I have this subliminal idea in my head that I have all these details you all want to know, but probably have no interest in so I will try to shave these posts down a bit…..

…..

….

…OR NOT!

Hafner OUT

2006-08-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

Hey guys and gals. I hope you like my blog. I figured this was an efficient way to keep ya all in contact w/ me and find out what I am up to on a regular basis. Feel free to post comments too, it’s always good to hear from you guys as well!

Well, so far I have got all my stuff down here to Mitchell and a limited amount of my stuff is in my parent’s house. I basically have enough there to live…barely. Ha! The move was pretty hot and then of course it cooled down and rained after everything was said and done, but at least it rained. It took about a day or so, but I talked dad into running a cat5 cable to the basement so that I have internet now too but, I still don’t have TV. I guess I will live.

So I have been working at my new job for 2 days now. It is a very different situation to be in compared to USD. The private sector is very interesting. You don’t see as many people that can’t pull their own weight in the organization and the mentality is very different. There are some things that are very much the same. I still have an electronic timesheet to fill out, but it is more of an in-house application than a packaged application you buy off the shelf. The nice thing is that I only have one timesheet to fill out rather than 2 or 3. They also have an application for tracking calls, but again, it is more of an in-house application, but seems to be very robust and intuitive to their support model.

I have been watching a lot of training videos to familiarize myself w/ the industry and the technology as well. Some of the basics are sort of redundant, but it’s not too terrible. The actor in the video is a bit on the cheesy side, but still not worse than any other training videos I have ever seen in my day. I have also been doing a lot of reading. Mainly help files for the application I support and other manuals. I have a couple of long training classes coming up in the next couple weeks to train on the applications I will be supporting. After doing some of the initial reading it is a bit overwhelming since the application seems so big.

Enough about work! I am kinda pumped about this weekend. Friday, my buddy Dusty and his fiancé are going to be in Mitchell and want to hang out. That should be a good time since it’s been a while since I’ve done that. (see Dusty, not party...ha ha) Then I have Nathan and Heidi’s wedding on Saturday which should be fun as well! I am still trying to straighten out how transportation will go since I was going w/ Kyle K. but he may be caddying for his cousin that weekend. Nothing against his cousin, but I hope he doesn’t qualify! J It just makes life simpler. Ha ha. Well, maybe this is enough for my first post, but look forward to more. I probably won’t do daily postings, but I will try to be consistent and definitely post when I think it is necessary.

Hafner out