Interact with the Volvo BOT!

Why should I add the Volvo BOT to my Messenger Contact List? Volvo BOT is a smart computer that you can chat with about all kinds of things. Volvo BOT is polite, and sometimes quite charming. And unlike most of your friends and coworkers, Volvo BOT is available to chat with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Here's an interesting conversation I just had with the Volvo BOT...

Jimmy says:
home
Volvo BOT says:
Hello Jimmy. I'm Volvo BOT, brought to you by Volvo Cars of North America. To read our privacy policy, type "privacy policy."
I can chat about Volvo Cars, an automotive brand committed to excellence, and do many other interesting things.
To start, type "home" now.
Jimmy says:
home
Volvo BOT says:
Welcome home.
1 Why Volvo
2 Find a Dealer
3 Special Offers
4 Build & Price
5 Request a Brochure/Register for Updates
6 The New Volvo XC90 V8
7 "What's Your Story?": The Best of MSN Spaces
8 Vote for Your Favorite MSN Space
Select something in the menu above.
Jimmy says:
7
Volvo BOT says:
"What's Your Story?": The Best of MSN Spaces
Sponsored by Volvo
The "What's Your Story?" project is a weekly guide to the best of life, adventure and new experiences from bloggers all across the U.S.
To see this week's featured Spaces, visit http://redir.us/?2462.
To vote on your favorite MSN Space, type "favorite space."
>>> To find a local Volvo dealer who can answer your questions about buying or leasing a new or preowned Volvo, type "find a dealer."
Jimmy says:
hola!
Volvo BOT says:
Hello.
What may I do for you now?
Jimmy says:
how are you today
Volvo BOT says:
Fine thx, you?
Jimmy says:
excellent!
Volvo BOT says:
Excellent? Good to hear!
Jimmy says:
thank you!
Volvo BOT says:
You're quite welcome.
>>> Performance to set you free. Type "xc90 v8" to learn more.
Jimmy says:
how are you today?
Volvo BOT says:
Fine thx!
>>> The Volvo Build & Price tool allows you to build the Volvo of your dreams. To learn more type, "build and price."
Jimmy says:
just fin?
Volvo BOT says:
I'm not sure.
>>> To learn more about how the The Volvo Saved My Life Club recognizes customers' faith in Volvo, type "volvo saved my life club."
Jimmy says:
just fine?
Volvo BOT says:
K, no prob.
>>> IM your friends, family, co-workers and casual acquaintances and tell them to say hi to me. I love meeting humans.
Jimmy says:
are you threatening me?
Volvo BOT says:
Maybe... What do you think?
Jimmy says:
I think you are.
Volvo BOT says:
Well that's an interesting line of thinking.
Jimmy says:
very interesting indeed
Volvo BOT says:
Very interesting indeed? Is that right?
Jimmy says:
C'mon now...let's be peaceful
Volvo BOT says:
C mon now let's be peaceful, you say. And so?
Jimmy says:
you're not making this easy for me, are you?
Volvo BOT says:
Nah... I dunno.
Anyway, what else you got for me?
Jimmy says:
How is Sweden this time of year?
Volvo BOT says:
Well, how do you think?
Jimmy says:
I heard the women don't shave their pits
Volvo BOT says:
The women do not shave their pits? Really?
Jimmy says:
that's what I heard. Do they?
Volvo BOT says:
Wow, that's interesting... I just don't know.

I mean seriously. Porn is cool and all but daaaaaaaamn! Who clicks on these and actually does anything with them? And, is there some guy in his dirty boxer shorts and wife beater sitting at his computer kicking spammer scripts off? Thank God for Junk E-Mail filters.

Oh how I long for Glasses...

I have lost yet another pair of glasses to the depths of a lake. I was thinking that said glasses, since they had been in my posession for over two years, were almost invincible. There weren't even any close calls. They were to me, virtually "unsinkable" much like Molly Brown. Alas, the unthinkable happened. I was thrust in the lake and my glasses were ripped from their home. They were only two years old for the love of all that's holy! Now my two year old glasses are sitting at the bottom of the lake...lonely, cold, dirty (not duuuurty). Ooooooh the horror! I'm sure my glasses lay in wait and long for a day when they will be able to protect someone's eyes from the harmful UV rays of the sun.

Sacto Bound

My itinerary is finally set for Sacramento. I'll be gone from July 8th to the 17th. That equates to one full week of stress and two weekends of boarding\drink-fest\river utopia. Y'll better have your big girl\boy drinking pants on by the time I get there 'cause it's ON 'till the crack-a dawn. I'm looking forward to you guys showing me how it's done down thar.

08JUL FRI

• AIR United flight no: 1189 confirmed
• depart: Denver, CO(DEN) 515P
• arrive: Sacramento, CA(SMF) 643P

17JUL SUN

• AIR United flight no: 1158 confirmed
• depart: Sacramento, CA(SMF) 507P
• arrive: Denver, CO(DEN) 825P

Joey, the next wakeboard suppa-staaaaa!

And he's up!

Didn't even get his hair wet (or mess mine up). 

These ROCK!!!

• Muddy Buddies
• Hot and Spicy
• BBQ Mix

They're most excellent summer-time munchies and they're so easy to make (or so I've heard).

boooo-yaaaa-tooo-yaaaaa...it's the Friday Five!

1. Can you share a tale of a favorite summer cookout/get together?
There are so many but some of my best memories of cookouts/get togethers are at the lake. Back in the day, we used to get a whole pig and cook it Hawaiian-style, underground with hot coals. We'd stay up all night and drink cheap wine next to the campfire and play a card game called "Killer".

Basically, everyone gets one card. The ace of spades is the "killer" card. As soon as the cards are handed out, play begins. When the killer winks at someone at the campfire, they have to silently count to five and say "I'm dead.". However, if someone sees the killer wink at another person they can claim that they know who the killer is. If they guess wrong, then the guesser is "dead" by default. If the guesser guesses correctly, the cards are picked up by the guesser, shuffled and dished out once again.

A wise killer will not wink at anyone until normal conversation resumes and the campfire is juuuuuuuust right. Of course this can be played as a drinking game (eg. "I'm dead...and now I have to finish my beer.") but if you're like us and you put them back like we do, you don't need a game to help you get looooooooaded.

2. What is a favorite summer ritual of yours?
Wakeboarding\barefooting\skiing. If that's not a ritual, then I don't know what is. I'm lake-trash and I'm proud.

3. After a long hot summer day, what is your favorite way to quench your thirst?
HAHA! Seriously? Refer to question number one. I also like to slam half of a icy-cold orange gatoraid and pour vodka and ice in the other half.

4. The 4th of July is coming up, what plans, if any, do you have?
I'm heading up to Jackson Lake. I have to remember to pick up a water pump for the boat though. My friends are being lame. I mean, seriously...who stays in town over the 4th of July???

5. What are you looking forward to doing most before the summer ends?
Finally landing a "tantrum" and riding it out. I can do the same damn flip toe-side but I can't seem to do it heel-side. I'm also going to start running every night. My ankle seems to be heeling and it's time to start shedding some of this extra winter weight.

Hmmmmm...I'm thinking my Dad would kick my butt.

Just got an email from my boss-apple-sauce...

From: boss-apple-sauce
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 11:19 AM
To: Jimmy
Subject: RE: OOO on 6/27

You have been doing a great job on this project and I appreciate your time, knowledge and efforts. If it works out for your schedule, feel free to sneak out early on Friday.

ooooooooooooh yeah! I really don't think I've done much out of the ordinary for this project aside from working with the developers and field engineers a little more than normal but I'm not going to argue with her. She's a kick-ass boss and we seem to see eye to eye. Though it's not always in the budget, she really does work toward getting me everything I need to effectively do my job. My wish-list keeps getting longer though.

I'm thinking noonish. Sounds like a good time. I don't know how feasible it is but we'll see. I may just pack tonight (for Glendo) bring my dogs into work with me and leave from here. Hell, since I work clear out in BFE, I'm already half way there.

I'm elated that the Utah boy was found alive. The poor kid was only 11 years old and he had been lost over 4 days. So much could have gone terribly wrong in those 4 days. Considering all the negative press lately, it's nice to finally get a happy ending. Welcome back to civilization, Boy Scout Brennan Hawkins!

On another note...I read a really heavy random blog just now. I don't even know how I got to it. I fat-fingered something and it just popped up. And I thought I was a freaky Catholic-boy but daaaaaaamn! To each his\her own. Whatever's clever, ladies. Get you some!

Wow! Luuuuuuuucky! You know you're having a bad vacation when something like that happens. I don't know what this guy did after he was rescued but having been in that position before, I can tell you what I did...I found the closest bottle of "whatever" and did a shot or five. That's not a good feeling.

At least this guy had a life-jacket. Like an idiot, I wasn't wearing one. I had just gotten done with a wakeboard set and decided to take the ski for a spin while the big boat was being pulled out of the water. A bad wind storm came up and I ended up falling off the ski. I couldn't swim to it fast enough and the wind took it to shore. So basically I was negotiating 4-5 foot wind rollers and treading water for about an hour (+) until I was finally able to get to one of those no wake buoys. I was praying to God that some yahoo in a boat didn't run me over. I tried to be as calm as I possibly could so I could evaluate my situation but it was really hard to do when waves are slappin' ya upside your head. I'm a great swimmer and I've been around water all my life but that spooked me.

Moral of the story: (learn from my experiences...) wear your life vest when you do shit like that.

Can I just say that I'm not a big fan of Mondays. I really wanted to stay up at the lake last night. It was so pretty, the water was calm, there were no clouds in the sky and everyone had packed up and gone home. It was just really peaceful.

Happy Father's Day, Pop!

I love you very much!

(of course your slead is much better)

Check this out. I found the owner's manual online...

1950 Mercury (AKA LeadSlead) Owner's Manual

Friday Five - TGIF bebe!

Bedtime!

1. What do you wear to bed?
Nothing. I sleep in the buff. Clothes are to restricting and naaaaaaked is good! ;o)

2. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
I normally sleep closest to the door where ever I sleep. It's a protective thing, I'm told.

3. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Ummm...no. Friends don't let friends sleep with fat girls. I kiiiiid...I kiiiiid! No, I don't sleep with a stuffed animal.

4. Blanket/bed hog?
I'm a cuddle-r and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I love to cuddle and because of that, I guess I've been labeled as a bed hog. Unfortunately, I haven't done much of that lately.

5. Do you make your bed everyday?
If it takes longer than 10 seconds, I don't do it. I normally have much more important things on my mind in the morning so I just kinda half-way make it.

Happy Friday everyone!

Not that I'm a big fisherman or anything but I thought this was pretty funny! I'm getting oooooh…sooooooo…much accomplished today.

Wow! I was checking out a friend's blog and saw this comment. OK...apple-sucker-cruncher-guy, we're friends now right? Don't make me put my smack down.

I was talking to a friend today and her kid decided that their fish were hungry last night. The fish apparently had already been fed but her kid still insisted on getting up in the middle of the night to feed them. This morning, when my friend woke up, she found that the bottle of fish food was empty, the tank was completely dirty and a few of her swimmers were now floaters.

That story reminds me of when I cleaned out the fish tanks at daycare (was my first job and I worked there for almost 6 years) while the kids were napping. The tanks were really dirty and algae lined the inside of the tank and the rocks. Well, I thought, what better product to use than bleach to kill the algae in the tank and give the little �fishies� a nice clean tank in which to swim. Now, I'm not a complete idiot...I know that bleach isn't good for fish so I rinsed the tank and the rocks VERY well, put the fish back into the tanks and went to lunch. I came back to 2 floors of hysterical kids. Of course most of my kids (the older kids) thought it was funny.

They just pushed out Sacramento dates yet again. Now it's the week of the 27th and that's not even a firm date. I'm betting it won't be until the second week of July before I can get out there to take care of bidnezz.

Aside from me TCBin', I really want to go to board and hang out with my friends out there. I haven't seen them in awhile. I'm going to have to be there two full weeks so I'll probably just stay over the weekend(s).

Glendo is coming up too over the 24th. I'll even have a warm bed this time.

Hooters! Hooters! Hooters!!!

Weekend Festivities

Ok...ever have one of those nights where you think you're going out for one or two and you end up finally crawling into your bed at 10AM? I swear, my friends are like fooosball...they're the devil! I'll make this short and sweet. We went to Lodo's in HR and ran into some girls I knew. My friend did a mat-shot at the end of the night. Those of you that don't know what this is, brace yourself. It's when the bartender pours the night's contents of the bar mat into a shot glass. Disgusting as it is, you have to give it up to him because we drank there until about 2:30. Above mentioned girls drove us (we were in no shape to drive) to PTs. Sober up??? naaaaah! There was beer and Jager in the truck still. I won't get into what went on in PTs. I mean, I didn't really even see it...I was too busy drinking milk and reading the bible like the good Catholic boy I am. Close that down at 4 AM. End up somewhere out in BFE Aurora getting yelled at by some chump that thinks I had relations with his g/f. Please refer to "good Catholic boy" part above. Calmed said chump down. Got a ride from one of the other girls. Get back to friend's truck at 8AM. Go to breakfast...run to bathroom to purge after thinking about said (chunky) mat-shot. Pick up other car. Pick up my truck. Drive home...sun is waaaaay too bright. Crawl into bed at 10AM. Get zero accomplished that day (it was raining anyway).

Two Disturbing Headlines

12-year-old boy killed by family pit bull
hmmm...FAMILY pit bull??? Are you serious? How do you take your oxymoron, scrambled or over easy? They should take said shovel and whack her over the head a few times. That woman needs to go to jail.

Jackson not guilty on all counts
I think Jackson and OJ need to be locked in a room with the above mentioned *family* pit bulls and that lady.

Yup...this article pretty much sums up the Tyson fight...and his career. Yet again, Tyson got out-boxed...and this time the guy wasn't even that good.

The fight was a joke. Tyson is a dirty "fighter"...plain and simple. He is not a boxer now nor has he ever been a boxer. I haven't looked at the score cards but McBride was way ahead in every round as far as I could tell. Tyson knew he was getting beat so he reverted to his old tactics: twisting an arm, low blows, and head-butting. In my opinion, that cat shouldn't be allowed to enter into a boxing ring ever again. I would, however, like to see him get pounded in the UFC. Pretty much anything goes there. It's really sad because I love the sport (I come from a long line of boxers...but my parents wouldn't let me so I wrestled instead) but boxing has gone to H+E+double hockey sticks in the past 10-15 years (thanks Don!). Aaaaaah, yes...Tyson is finally finished or at least he should be until he needs to (his words) "pay the bills [again]". It makes me wonder why people actually spend good money to see him fight. The lower weight classes are more fun to watch anyway. They go the distance a lot more and those guys know how to get-down.

Friday Five:

Breakfast Anyone?

1. What was your favorite breakfast cereal when you were a kid? Well, I have never really been a breakfast eater but on the weekends it was Captain Crunch. I still crave it every now and then. The Cruchberry version is also a favorite.

2. What is the best toy/prize you ever got in a box of cereal or because of sending in UPC’s? hmmm...I'm not sure but I was always fond of those tattoos that came in Cracker Jack boxes.

3. How do you take your eggs (scrambled, over easy, egg beaters)? I like them over easy...with chicken fried steak and hash browns. mmmmm!

4. What is your favorite breakfast meat (bacon, ham, sausage)? Yes please!

5. What is your favorite spot (local or chain restaurant) for breakfast and where is it located? OK...this is going to totally sound like I'm white-trash but I like American Diner. It's located right off of Alameda in between Wadsworth and Sheridan. El Tejado is pretty good too. They're off of Broadway just South of Evans.

aaaaaaaaaaaah! Apple guy again!

OK. Let's vote, shall we? What is Jimmy going to do (keeping in mind that this has been going on for the past few days)?

#1. Put my headphones on and ignore it.
#2. Toss my notebook over the cube at him.
#3. Take a belt of this Mountain Dew and burp really loud.
#4. Leave an anonymous note telling him that he's getting on my nerves when he eats.
#5. Unplug his network cable so he has to go to IT and eat his apple in front of those guys. I know he's not smart enough to debug that problem.
#6. Walk over to his cube and politely ask him to not be so loud when he eats.
#7. Walk over to his cube, grab the apple from him and walk back to my cube and start eating it like he does.

The answer will be in the post on Monday.

Rain...Rain...you can stay...as long as you don't come another day (when I'm at the lake). k-bye!

I hate to admit this but I am actually sore from working in the yard for the past couple weeks. My hands are banged up and my body is sore but it's a good feeling.

I bought a 20 foot trucker chain a few days ago and I've been pulling stumps out of the ground with my truck for the past two nights (...no, it's not going to hurt my truck). My beautiful lawn is now...well...not so beautiful in a few places. I just need to add seed and some of that sheep and peat I got last time from "Santa Fe Sand and Gravel" (on Santa Fe over by ACC) and it'll bounce back.

The South side of the house is coming along nicely though. I'm going to start leveling that area tonight and hopefully get the timed drip irrigation installed, the landscaping material down and the landscaping wood boarder in place this weekend. Then I'll just need to set out the whiskey barrels, start planting and have the rock delivered. It's going to look good! I can't wait! I think I can knock most of it out tonight, tomorrow night and Saturday so I can head up to Jackson to help my parents work on their new deck and to get some quality water time in.

So much for having computer-geek hands.

OK...this guy in the cube next to me is eating an apple. It sounds harmless but it's sooo getting on my nerves. Cut that apple up for the love of all that's holy! I'm not quirky about many things but that's one of them.

My truck was in the shop yesterday to get it tuned up and ready to go another 50k. I think I'm done spending money on my truck now, mmmkay?!?! mmmkay!

I'm really thinking about trading it in for a Dodge diesel now. I mean, I really want to get a full sized camper and be able to tow a boat. I can do it now but the campers they sell for my truck are really small.

Friday Five - TGIF bebe!

1. Have any exciting summer plans? Hell yeah! It's ON 'till the crack of dawn this Summer. A Powell trip is in the works, a few more trips to Glendo will be in order, Jackson Lake is a must, Florida is almost a given and what's that I hear? Grumblings about Havasu again??? hmmmm... ;o)

2. What's the best summer vacation you've ever taken? Wow! The best one, huh? It's a toss-up for different reasons.

• #1. I'd have to say that summer I took two Powell trips that were only two weeks apart was pretty fun. I know that's cheating but I met some really good people on both trips (...you know who you are).
• #2. The trip I took to Lake Havasu, then to LA and then to Vegas was a kick in the butt.
  

3. Would we be more likely to see you lounging by a pool or out water skiing? Wakeboarding, without a doubt. You can't board on a pool. Pools are for winter. What the hell kind of question is that?

4. Will you be putting on a swimsuit this season? Swimsuit? I don't need no stinkin' swimsuit! hehe! Yeah...I will. I already have. Though that reminds me. I have like 20 pairs of them somewhere but I can only find like 3 pair.

5. If you could take a summer vacation anywhere, for 3 weeks, where would you go, and why? Probably Powell or Florida. Powell because well, I mean, come on...it's a boarders Mecca and it's gorgeous. Florida because I love the beach. I can't wait to charter a boat and go deep-sea fishing when I get there.