Serious business.

Christ I suck at keeping this thing up to date. I mean really.

I've actually had a viable excuse, but only recently. Well, aside from work, work and more work - which I like, don't get me wrong - finally got to move out of that god-forsaken house and into a new place last week, and amidst that particular brand of chaos, everything else has been rather interesting and busy as well.

Work: entering into Q4 for the year, and break-fix mode doesn't even begin to cover it. My project list alone, just for the month of October, is just shy of fucking retarded, let alone all the other stuff that we're contending with this quarter. We've got expansion in China, two new offices opening up on the east coast, and a miriad of project work here at the homestead. So "busy" doesn't really do it justice, but it is what it is.

May be off to Atlanta and New Jersey towards the end of this month, which is both cool and a large pain in the butt at the exact same time. Our offices in China are doing well from the last report, but I may get to head overseas early next year to check things out, so that's nifty.

Non-work: The new place kicks so much ass it hurts. Finally got all the stuff packed, loaded and moved, and I shit you not - 8 full loads of crap hauled off to the dump and the Goodwill drop-station. It was super-awesome doing most of that alone too, lemme tell ya. But whatever. It's done and I'm fucking ecstatic about it, and the new joint is just perfect. It's brand new, it's clean and laid out nicely - I finally have counter space in the kitchen! Went out and spent way too much money on new gear for the place, each time with the full intention to 'just buy towels'...and yeah, I still haven't gotten those towels yet. But what I DID get is shiny new appliances and silveware and other stuff (went with metallic red as the color theme in the kitchen - looks so awesome), shiny new deep blue swag for the bathroom, and...oh, and the best part:

So, a little side-story here. Last weekend, me and Skippy were on Dump Run #5 and I got a call from my ex-wife's uncle Rick, who I was told, by her a few weeks prior, was now part-owner in a mattress liquidation store. Very cool, I've been meaning to start shopping around for a new bed anyway. Talked to Rick a week or so prior to the move and let him know I was in the market, but would have to revisit post-move time. So, en route to said waste transfer station, Rick calls and says he's got all kinds of deals for me and hey, we're right in his neighborhood if we wanna stop by and check stuff out.

Aces.

So the Skipper and I cruise on over to Rick's mattress joint to see what the old boy's got. We chit-chat, and I hint at my price range (which wasn't much), and let him kind of figure out a deal that we'd both be happy with. And yes, I did have cash. Hint hint nudge nudge. I can barter my face off when called upon.

We head over to the warehouse..area...where Rick's mid-project on a brand new mattress he'd just received that morning, and had it up on saw horses, ready for bagging and tagging as it were. I told him I was happy with queen-size, and that even though my shiny new 1-bedroom joint was freakin' big, size was still something to consider.

"Well, have you ever thought about a cal-king?"

"What the hell's a 'cal-king', Rick?"

He went on to give Skippy and myself the full spectrum tour of mattress sizes, shapes, depths and dimensions, and most importantly, the spacial differences between a King, an East Coast King, and a California King.

Now don't get me wrong: the bigger the bed, the bigger the Awesome...but I've never really envisioned myself the owner of a "king" classification in any regard. Just hasn't fallen under the budgetary\spacial concern, y'know?

According to Rick, the Cal-King is by and large the best mattress out there, since, by definition, the 'cal' demarcation indicates that the mattress is 72" wide (only a foot wider than a queen-size), but is 80" long, whereas your standard king or "east coast king", as it were, can be 80" by 84"...which is fucking huge.

"Well, that's interesting stuff Rick and god knows I'd love to be able to have a bed that massive and comfortable. What's this one retail for anyway?" as I point at the new one sitting on the saw horses in front of us.

"Oh, I just got this one. Costco and other first-run bedding places sell this one in the $3,000 range."

"Riiiight."

"Oh..*he chuckles*..Well, how much cash did you say you brought?"

"Well I didn't say..."

And before I couldn't finish my thought - "I'll give it to you right now for $300."


.... :|

..


"You're fucking kidding right, Rick?"

"No no no - seriously man, this is a great mattress."

"Yeah, no Rick I mean yes - of course it is. But...are you serious? You're gonna give me a three THOUSAND dollar mattress for a tenth of the cost?"

"Well....yeah. You said you needed a new bed, right? This is the best I got man - "

So, for whatever reason, I decided what the hell - why not see what else I can work in this deal. Rick ended up giving me this gigantor cal-king mattress, a new set of low-profile box springs and a new rail set for a grand total of $330, done and done. I couldn't believe how massive this thing was - it literally dwarfed Skippy's truck, and the damned thing weighs in at a solid 230 pounds, but good Christ on a three wheeler, I have never, ever slept on anything so comfortable in my life. Ever.

So, yeah. Now the proud of owner of the Optimus Prime of beds, I had to go get all new bedding and shit too (obviously!), and lemme tell ya, if you're currently sleeping on some weak-ass 200 thread count linen or flannel garbage, do yourself a favor and go get the real deal. Don't settle for anything less than 100% Egyptian cotton, 600 thread or higher.

For serious.

//a.