This is so cool... I found this the other day but totally forgot to mention it. Smart Fasteners.

Had dinner last night at 'My Big Fat Greek Restaurant"... it was terrible! Dirty dishes, bent tines, and potatoes that reeked of lemon juice. It was rancid!

(Note to reader: I suggest you don't eat there.)

Woke up this morning- found out why my pool has been so hazy for the past few weeks... Sullivan, my roomate's dog, has been swimming in the pool and a bunch of his hair clogged up the filters so the water wasn't getting filtered properly.

I also bought a framed poster yesterday.


whatcha think?

I made some progress in cleaning up the house and I also put up the umbrella that I found behind a strip mall on 64th street and Greenway. I put it in my front room of the house and mounted it into the base for my outdoor umbrella. I also put my chrome rim on it and it looks awfully white trash. :)

Ever wonder what a celebrity wears when they're not in front of the cameras? My friend Marcus got to hang out with Matt Damon at a 7-Eleven the other day. Check out Matt's shirt!

Hahahaha!

I haven't posted in a while so this may take a while...

1) After being friends for a long time it's funny how typical conversation between friends can be so childish...

Tim Parke says: what are you doing tonight
clifford says: watching a movie with brian.
Tim Parke says: how cute
clifford says: after we burn your house down.
Tim Parke says: its brick bitch
Tim Parke says: haha
clifford says: damn, that's why it didn't burn down last week!
Tim Parke says: ha

2) So I'm at the Target Greatland by my house tonight and there are only a couple of cashiers working.

Lesson learned tonight: You don't necessarily want to pick the line with the least amount of people, you want to pick the line with the cashier that looks experienced!!!

3) Saw Anchorman tonight.
Great movie- go watch it.

4) Lately I've been somewhat discombobulated. It's been taking a little longer for me to collect all my ideas on one particular subject and I suspect it's because I'm beginning to notice a void in my life... ummmmmmmm- a girlfriend. For the past couple of years I've sunk my life into work and although it's propelled me high in the company, I feel like I need to focus more on a balanced life. An article in Business2.0 suggested that although Americans work more hours compared to their European counterparts, the hours may not necessarily contribute to a better bottom line. This is so true and I've thought about it a lot. Sometimes when I get tired, my logic slips (even though I aced it on the LSATs) and I make mistakes in excel charts and lose track of ohhhhhhhh- $28,000. But luckily the mistakes don't go far and I've taken a more balanced approach to my new job. The new job carries a lot of responsibility though... and because of that, I've found myself dedicating my life back to work to help get my group up to speed.

Which brings to mind the next item on today's loquacious post.

5) I have been reading business oriented books since I was 12 or 13. I even took a negotiation book on a trip to California once with the church high school group. I have always been interested in analyzing business models and thinking of profit margins and streamlining workflow processes... With all that preparation in life why do I find myself hesitant on being straightforward with customers? It's not that I'm being deceptive, it's more the fact that if they are dragging their feet on a project, I find myself being very polite and allowing their molasses-like thought processes to slow me down.

THIS IS TERRIBLE!

Although this is the case, I belive I have arrived to a solution. To break it down to the customer that we're in the business of getting stuff done and to not be afraid of faulting the customer for dragging ass. This was reaffirmed when I read this month's Business2.0 interview with SAP's CEO Henning Kagermann. One of the questions in his interview was:

Question: "So, do customers blame the software when they should just blame themselves?"

Answer: "That's it. Because, look, software doesn't perform miracles. Success is a combination of the software, how people are using it, and the enterprise itself. A CEO once said to me, "That's not good; you're blaming me back," and he was right. If you're the CEO of a company, you -- not the software -- run the company."

Customers need to realize that services, products, and tools used to complete a particular project or accomplish a goal will not magically do the work for them. There has to be input from the customer.

Basically, if you go to a restaurant, food doesn't come unless you order it.

Ok- enough huffing and puffing about that stuff... I'm just going to start practicing what I preach. Chop chop!

6) I have so many things that I want to do but have been putting off. This list is mainly for me but since this is the only somewhat tangible place to write them down right now here goes...

- vacuuming the upstairs of the house.
- installing the rest of the light switches upstairs.
- getting new toilet valve things for the upstairs and my bathroom toilet.
- spraying down the backyard with weed killer.
- taking pool water to the store to have it tested (I hated Chemistry in h.s.)
- wash silver car.
- wash red car and take photos of it to sell it.
- figure out what I'm going to do with the extra speakers in my bedroom... I used to have a surround sound setup but I moved the receiver downstairs to power the backyard speakers... which really don't get a lot of play time... maybe I'll just move the reciever back upstairs... oh I dunno.
- get a wrist brace for my left wrist... I think I'm getting carpel tunnel syndrome.

ok... I'm going to stop.

7) Hey Justin- I found a way to make the helmet fit my head. Shave off some of the offending foam on the inside so it fits my fat head.

Remember when I had a song on here that talked about my friend Travis finding the big black woman of his dreams who weighed 323lbs?

Maybe this will jog your memory...

Wow has it been a long day. I think the time just felt stretched out because I didn't get a lot of sleep.

Anyway- I'm way tired. What are you all up to besides reading my blog? If you're bored, gimme a call 602.300.7153

Adios kids. Going home from work now.

c.

Found on my brother's AIM profile:

Dear Axe Deodorant,

Since the onset of puberty I have been plagued by foul smelling armpits. It made me shy and unsocial and that made me sad. Then one day, I saw your ad on tv - even the maniquin was attracting ladies - so I went out and got a can. Now, I am clean and fresh smelling because I use you - sometimes even when I do not shower. Also, the ladies like the clean and fresh smelling me. I even have a girlfriend. I owe you BIG TIME!

Yours Truly,

Justin

Somehow... it's just not the same...




I am in love with the Gullwing 300sl.

I however am also in love with my kidneys and my liver which may possibly be worth the $350,000 that I would need to purchase a Gullwing 300sl.

Monday night church volleyball.

F-U-N!

So I'm in bed trying to go to sleep and I can't.
 
I keep thinking about the things that could have been in my past and how I get reminded of them so easily with things in my life now.  For those of you who think I sound blown out of my mind, I assure you that I did NOT drink the bong water.   :)
 
Seriously though, the other day I was driving with my youth that I mentor for and he wasn't a fan of my current CD collection in the car (CD collection currently: Switchfoot, Lighthouse, Dido, some Weezer, and other random bubble gum happy songs.)  So anyway, my youth reached for the radio and switched it to the FM stations.  All we heard was static because I never listen to the radio and so he went on to preprogram each preset.
 
Right then- I felt like a dad.
 
And then tonight, I was at a family BBQ and I held my cousin's 6 month old son Jacob.  Again, I felt like a dad.  A hip dad though... Jacob's somewhat of a chubby chubb so I bounced him gently up and down and called him 'Sumo' and the Michelin Man for a while... and then he began to reach for his little toy which I affectionately labelled as 'Baby Bling'.  I know 'bling' is kinda old but hey- I was going on on the whole alliteration mumbo jumbo.  I don't quite know what it is about kids and me but we get along fairly well.  Although I know I would be an excellent dad, I know I can't rush into a relationship to have little "Sumo's" and "Sumo-ettes".  Like my dad said to me... "Clifford, you can have everything in life, just not all right now...  now put down that twinkie."  Just kidding about the twinkie part- haha!  Love you Mom and Dad!
 




How can you not love parents like this?
 
Anyway, long story even longer (I love that saying- courtesy of my friend Angie), while riding in my car with my youth next to me, I felt like the dad that I could have been from a previous relationship.  A dad who patiently drives while his son/daughter fiddles with the radio,  a dad who can be a a role model, a hip dad who speaks kid speak, a dad who is tired of going to clubs (although they can be fun every now and then), a dad whose son/daughter can point to and be proud of when they hang with their friends... 
 
I guess it essentially boils down to whether or not I'm happy with who I am.  I talked with Zach about that tonight, he was kind of occupied with a CD burner that was abandoned at his house so I'm not sure if he was listening (Were you Zach?), and so I blabber on to him about my self analysis of Clifford Wong.  He's got a decent job, decent house, decent car, decent quality of life, and he's active in the community.  But there isn't a relationship.  I'm not really searching for one but I think my recent birthday brought to my mind many questions... one of the questions was:
 
'Will my parents live to see their grandchildren graduate from college?'
 
I know.  Terrible question- but it's something that popped into my mind.  I guess this really hits home because my Grandmother passed away before my brother could graduate from college and before I bought my first house.  All she had to do was live a few more years and she could have helped the rest of my family make my house into a home... see my brother graduate from college...  celebrate with us on milestones in our lives...  My ex girlfriend's father passed away before she graduated and I know it hurt her a lot.  I just know that it would make me so very sad if my children had to experience that.
 
ok...
 
It's 2:30am.  It's a school night.  I have a job to do tomorrow that pays me handsomely to do it well.
 
Goodnight to whomever reads this...
 
 
c.

Oh yeah...
 
So for those of you who have been keeping up with how many weddings I've gone to this year...  (4?5?)  I have two more to go to now...   
 
Kinda makes me wonder when mine is going to spring up on me.
 
 

My weekend was a blur!!!
 
Friday: went out to dinner at Houstons and then went to a cheesy cowboy bar because some people from work were going (they didn't have disco balls... they had disco SADDLES!!!!).   So yeah- I didn't really enjoy my time there.  Hung out with the friends for a lil and then went home at 2am.
 
Saturday: woke up at 8am, cleaned the pool and the house (did a lot of that this weekend).  Went to Costco with Brian because he needed tires and then went to fashion square to exchange some pants.  Hung out at the house between 4pm and 6pm for my friend who keeps saying she wants to buy my g20...  no show. 
 
Went out to dinner with the family and I didn't think it was going to be that wild of a night until I got a call from Wayne and Rhett.  We hung out at Rhett's place for a bit at like 9:30...  met his cute neighbor and her friends, went out to Drinx in Old Town Scottsdale, then went to Gilligan's (which has a great happy hour menu btw), then went back to his place at 1:30am.  Hung out, chatted, saw a girl break up with her boyfriend across the street, hung out some more, chatted some more, realized that it was 4:30am... and then I headed home. 
 
Got home at 5am.  Washed the car and treated the pool with chemicals. 
 
Slept at 6am.
 
Woke up at 11am.
 
Disassembled/reassembled the pool cleaning dude that roams all over the pool because he wasn't going around in circles at noon.
 
Fell asleep at 1pm.
 
Woke up at 3:30pm to go to a BBQ at my aunt's house.
 
Came home at 9pm, checked the pool and the lil guy is running laps in the pool like the Indy 500.
 
Did some laundry, talked with my friend Zach for a while, cleaned up the house some more, vacuumed, cleaned up the garage...
 
and now I find myself here at 11:40pm.
 
I am tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired.
 
 

posted by clifford @ 10:48 PM 0 comments

Party pictures here!!!

Download the Starbucks Video here.

Glenn! Glenn, Glenn, Glenn!
Glenn, Glenn, Glenn!
Glenn, Glenn, Glenn!

Glenn's the man
Goin' to work.
Got his tie, got ambition.
Middle management is right in his grasp.
It's a dream he will never let die.

Glenn's the--
man of the hour, he's the king of his cube!
Status quo reports have finally met their rival. Burning the--
candle at both ends on his way to the top,
He knows one day he just could become...
Supervisor!

Roy! Roy, Roy Roy! . . .

26!

Yaaaaaaay!

I had a great party and it was nice to see my parents stop by the house. Too bad they didn't stick around for some Beer Pong but that's ok. I'll post photos later!

I heard about Saddam in court but I didn't know they played games!!

Click here for the best game of rock paper scissors.

Tiger Hand!!!