So about a week ago I created an imaginary earworm. As in, I got a song that doesn’t exist stuck in my head. I came up with the lyric “And you’re so cray cray, but it’s okay-kay” at some point, and then it just played over and over and over in my head. In the hopes of removing it, I commented on Facebook that someone should come up with the entire song. The Prototype came up with the following, which in my opinion is ready for Top 40 action:

You’re so cray cray
But it’s okay kay

Cuz we only just a dick thang
We just a dick thang

Think you got me but you don’t
Gonna catch me but you won’t

Cuz we only just a dick thang
We just a dick thang

Girl you see me Rollin up
Whip cruz low
Wearing Dolce Gabana
Head to toe

You know you goin get wit this
Wanna flip this trick
And though you gonna hit this
No you ain’t goin stick

Cuz you so cray cray
But it’s okay Kay

Cuz we only jus a dick thang
We just a thang

Won’t get what you think you will
Just cuz you foggin up ma grill

Cuz we only just a dick thang
We just a dick thang

Now bay be you buggin now
With that mean look
Cuz I’m all up on some bitches
Offa your Facebook

And though you wanna dis girl
Know what this about
We still gonna get to this girl
Then I goin be out

Cuz you so cray cray
But it’s okay Kay

Cuz we only just a dick thang
Girl we a dick thang

You can try keep up the pace
But girl I got expensive taste

And we only just a dick thang
Yeah we a dick thang

Yeah you cray cray!
And it’s okay Kay

Hey hey bay bay!
Let’s just go do this this tonight
Cuz baby it’s tight!

And you so cray cray cray cray cray
Ok let’s do this tonight

I figured I’d post it here instead of the almighty Facebook for once. . .

The L train is 2 for 4 so far this week for completely sucking in the morning. More irritatingly, I’ve been waking up at a normal hour every morning due to morning meetings, and I was super late to one of them, and right on time for the others. This morning was a bad L train morning, but because I didn’t have Harry with me I just hoofed it to the G and took it to the 7, and made it just in time to grab a bunch of mini bagels and some coffee and a bottle of water (an actual bottle of water, something that’s become a scarcity around here, mostly it’s a good thing but every once in a while it would be really handy to have a bottle of water instead of having to find a pantry and use one of the filtered water dispensers). Somehow I didn’t win any awards during the meeting. I’m not quite sure why not, although the fact that they did not give an award out for slacking greatly diminished my chances.

That’s all for now. I totally should be doing this other work that I needed to do two days ago, but I’ve also had so many stupid meetings that I haven’t been able to do anything, slack-wise or work-wise. So now I slack for a minute, then I’ll totally do it. Like, really. I will.

In just a minute.

I woke up at 7 am Vegas time, not having gotten enough sleep but not going to be able to sleep any further. I figured, well, why not go back down to the tables? I headed down to the poker room, and surprisingly there were two tables going and I got a seat within 15 minutes. I fared a little better, and at one point managed to win a $100 bonus by catching quads.

Twin A got up and I managed to get a rental car - $100 for the day (there goes that bonus!), which is double what Twin D and I would have paid for a two day rental. Oh well. I drove out to pick up Twin A and we went to brunch at the Wynn, which once again was amazingly delicious. Even Twin A was impressed. Only, for some reason, the coffee was a little gross. I was also introduced to the joys of valet parking, which is apparently free everywhere in Las Vegas (I had no idea). I managed to lose my ticket though, which required a little explaining and a little extra paperwork, but it all worked out.

We then headed over to the Pinball Hall of Fame for a little while, which was magnificent as always - Twin A and I squared off at Twilight Zone and each won a game against each other, and I also discovered that I was strangely good at ACDC pinball.

We then drove to the airport to pick up Kissyfur, who was flying in for the week. I dropped them back at Twin A’s hotel, the Trump International, so they could have some smoochy time, and I went back to the Rio for some more poker. On the way, I didn’t understand what my GPS was telling me so I got a little lost, but in the process I found the Spearmint Rhino. (No, I did not go in.)

I went back to the poker tables and again, fared a little better - no giant hands but I wasn’t losing either.

I picked A and Kissyfur back up around 7 and we headed out for dinner. We went to Estiatorio Milos in the Cosmopolitan - Twin A was treating for my birthday, and since he was making extra money for being out in Las Vegas - the meal was exquisite. I had some fresh fish flown in that day from Greece, and all their appetizers were ridiculously good, and dessert was also outstanding. It was quite a feast.

After dinner we wandered around the strip some, and watched the Bellagio fountains, and then I went up with A and Kissyfur to see A’s pad - not terrible, but there was a train track nearby, and the trains liked to blow their horns a lot. . .

I headed back to the Rio for one last poker binge, and again, I did okay. No major hands of note, and I won some more. I ended up winning around $200, and had covered my expenses in the meantime as well.

I’m going to head back in the spring if I can. There is a Facebook game that will actually give you comp Vegas hotel rooms for playing it. You have to play it a LOT, but hey, free is free. I could combine two nights through them and two nights through my Total Rewards account, and have four days out there, which would be awesome.

Twin A or Kissyfur, if you happen to read this and want to comment on anything I might have missed/forgotten, feel free. . . it’s all a little hazy now at this point.

Here’s a quick trip report about the September Vegas trip. It might be a little out of order at this point:

I made my flight on Sunday morning, no problems, and managed to score an exit row for free. (Now I can’t decide if I like the extra leg space more than the ability to recline my seat. I think I might like the row right behind the exit row the best, because then I can recline my seat but they can’t recline theirs.) Before we took off, Twin D texted me, saying that he had missed his flight - he had left his home a little later than he had meant to but still should have had plenty of time to reach the airport (White Plains), but someone decided it would be a good idea to put the running section of a triathlon on the road between the highway and the airport, so D was stuck for a half hour a mile away from the airport, and got into the airport ten minutes before he was supposed to take off. The airline rep told him to take the next flight out (to Chicago), and he would be first on the standby list on the flight to Vegas. He was a little upset (understandably), but I encouraged him to take the flight out there and he’d just get to Vegas later and everything would be fine. Then I took off on my direct flight. The movie selection sucked and my TV wasn’t working correctly, so I decided to try the in flight wifi, thinking that I could watch some Netflix on my phone. However, after spending the $10, it became very apparent that it was not working properly, and when I went to the website and read the fine print, it said that video streaming would not work. They should make that a lot clearer on the screen before you are ready to purchase. I complained to a customer service rep on their chat and they gave me a free session for the trip back, which didn’t address the issue, but whatever. I was able to email with D, who had made it to Chicago but apparently the airline rep had been smoking crack, because the Vegas flight was oversold. He was going to sit tight and see what was going on.

We had rented a car, but it was in his name, so I took a taxi out to our hotel, the Rio. It was off the strip, but it was the only property besides the Imperial Palace where I could get a comp, and I’ve heard the Palace is a rat trap so I had no desire to stay there. The Rio had also offered me a very cheap upgrade ($10 a night) for a high floor Strip view room, which I decided to take. Check in took forever - even at an off-Strip property, it was jammed. I got my room, which turned out to be all the way at the end of a very long hallway. Next time, screw the Strip view, get me something that doesn’t take me five minutes to get to the elevator! But the suite rooms at the Rio are huge, and generally nice. They had Keurig coffee makers, which I thought was awesome, and the worst shower heads in the universe, which was terrible. I want a shower, not a sand blaster.

Twin D let me know that not only was the flight he was supposed to be on standby for was impossible to get on, but so was any other flight to Vegas, but even worse, so was any flight going back to the New York City area. He was essentially trapped in Chicago overnight, thanks to the total incompetence of the airline employee in White Plains. I was totally bummed that he wasn’t going to be able to make it. . . I mean, I guess he could have flown in the next morning, but then he would really have only been in Vegas for 24 hours. . . probably not worth it (unless you are a degenerate like me).

Twin A was still working and wasn’t going to be available for an unknown period of time (likely hours), so I sat down at a poker table. The cards were not going my way. I played for a while and could barely win a hand, and any time I was involved with a pot I was missing completely, or getting called when I was bluffing, or someone would stay in and draw out on me. The worst was when someone called my sizable reraise with A4 suited versus my AK, and flopped a straight, of course calling my all in bet. I managed not to steam too much, rebought, and stayed afloat but not coming back.

Twin A called, finally, but I was exhausted and not hungry, so we agreed to meet the next morning for brunch. I was going to have to rent a car in the meantime, since I was now carless since there was no Twin D. . .

Later today I’m heading to BAM to see Einstein on the Beach, which I was fortunate enough to see the last time it played at BAM, around 20 years ago. I am expecting it to be as incredible this time as it was back then.

A week from today, I’m leaving for Las Vegas for a quick jaunt. Twin A has been out there since the end of August, working his new job with Blue Man Group, helping them move and relaunch their show with a bunch of all new acts and costumes and such. Some of the new stuff was featured on America’s Got Talent earlier this week, and if the show is as good as what they featured on TV, they’re going to be in great shape:

Those suits are so sick!!!!! Also, I’m referring to my butt as either the Jumbotron, my two weird cousins, or my gross national product from now on. (I’m not so sure about the last one, but it amuses me whether or not it was actually in the song.)

Anyway, what’s even cooler about the trip is that Twin D is also coming! I’m a little sorry Twin B can’t make it as well, but we didn’t plan it or anything, Twin D just decided he wanted to go as well. We’re both staying at the Rio, I got comped and he got a really good rate, and we both got cheap upgrades to high level strip view rooms. We’re also renting a car, since we want to make it to locations off of the strip (Pinball Hall of Fame, here we come!, and I’ll be experiencing In and Out Burger for the first time) and we’d be paying so much in taxi fare that it just made sense to get a car. Twin A plans to take us to some amazing omakase on Sunday night once he gets off work. Then on Monday, Kissyfur ALSO heads to Las Vegas, so the four of us will go have some other insanely yummy dinner, then they’ll go off and be lovey and Twin D and I will get into as much trouble as possible before my flight Tuesday morning.

It’s an incredibly quick trip, but it was all I could make work since I’m pretty much out of vacation days and I need some for the end of the year when we head down to Alabama for Xmas.

So between today and a week from today, I have the work week, which is going to be pretty terrible. I have three mornings with a prompt 9 AM start time (yes, I know, cry rivers for me, I’m a lazy lazy man), and two of those mornings involve all day (well, one all day and one “half” day) meetings with a new team that I am starting to work with. I have been warned ahead of time that there may be a lot of griping during these meetings, as they’re coming together to talk about a new process that they’ve been working on, and comparing it with the old process (strangely enough, I’m only getting trained on the old process, as the new one is going to be theoretically learned by a new colleague). And the other morning I have to attend training for system that honestly I’m probably not going to use very much, but since we have a project right now that involves its use, I have to take the training. Blah.

Also, there’s a Moth on Friday, but that’s not sucky at all. That’s awesome!

In Las Vegas.

Working with Annie Duke again.

Um, can I borrow a babysitter and some vacation days and a leer jet, please????

I’m off to Vegas myself in a week and a half - Twin D and I are going to meet up with Twin A, who is out there for two months working on the new Blue Man Group show at the Monte Carlo. We’re going out for omakase, and going to the Pinball Hall of Fame, and then Kissyfur flies in and we all go to another fancy dinner together, then A and K go off for lovey time and D and I go gamble and gamble and gamble. I’m really looking forward to it.

Thanks, Twin A, for bringing us back up and running.

PSB has left for Burning Man, leaving me with a toddler and a parrot.

DON’T PANIC.

and I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything. I did manage to get one of two assignments completed, and the other I will bang out later today/tomorrow (as long as it’s done by Wednesday before I leave, it doesn’t matter when exactly it gets done, and some of it is dependent on other people, who of course are taking their sweet time to get their parts back to me. . .)

I got a $50 AmEx gift card in the mail today from a colleague who I helped out, getting some graphics for her from a different department for a side project she was working on. It was really nice of her. I didn’t even feel like I was doing anything special, but to her, I was, so I’m not going to complain!

Tonight we’re taking our administrative assistant out for a drink or two - his last day is Friday. His position, as well as another team member’s, was eliminated due to budgets and consolidation. It’s really a bummer. He’s kind of excited though, which is good, at least. He is in the same boat that I was, not knowing what to do and stuck in a position that paid well enough that he sucked it up and dealt with it. . . and the other colleague needs to move away to be with her husband, so in a way, getting a package was awesome for her. Still sad, though. She and I worked together really well. In the meantime, I’ve picked up a bunch of new responsibilities, which is mostly good, except for the fact that last week I kept getting requests to give people access to a SharePoint site, but I couldn’t do it because no one had given me the proper access, and the people who could had either been let go or were on vacation. . . a little awkward, but it’s all taken care of now.

I have to go complete my mid year review, and I’m tired of writing “I’M SO AWESOME GIVE ME A RAISE” fifty different ways.

UPDATE: The second project has been pushed back to the end of July!!!!! MUHUHUHUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

And here’s a bonus birdie video!

http://gothamist.com/2012/05/09/mike_birbiglia_1.php#photo-17