For a family guy, Cliff seems to keep himself pretty busy. I've been observing him (unbeknownst to him) for the past several days and I think I've come to understand who he is and what kind of person he is.

He's not a terribly organized person as can be witnessed by his untidiness at work and home, but he does like things "clean" and manages to keep that end above water. This can be attested to by the fact that he started out with the intention of washing & Armor-Alling the tires to his car, as well as vacuuming out the inside. Well, I guess he figured as long as he had a bucket of soap & water out, he might as well wash the entire car.

He sure didn't plan very well, or maybe he was just oblivous to the weather forecast (a more likely scenario) as it rained the very next day on Sunday. Poor guy. All that work for nothing. Actually, I can't say that it was all for naught as the inside of his car looks quite nice. He vacuumed out everything he could reach, Windexed the windows, and armor-alled the rest of the surfaces.

The next day (Sunday), I was able to observe him in action playing ping pong. He played quite well, but unfortunately, his partner didn't show up. The league season is over but they had the league doubles tournament and he managed to beat both players on the first team he had to play. Unfortunately, his regular partner couldn't play in the tournament and his substitute never showed, causing him to forfeit the match. :( It looked like he was having fun and I think he was playing at the top of his game. I overheard him tell one of the other competitors that even though he had to forfeit, he felt it helped prepare him for the league singles tournament to be held in three weeks. And the awards banquet will be then as well - he thinks he may be in the running for "most improved" player this year, although as modest as he his, he probably thinks some other people are more deserving than himself.

After table tennis, I trailed him and watched him go see The Two Towers at the dollar theater for the third time. He appeared to enjoy it even more than the first two times he saw it. Does he have an addiction to Tolkien? Who knows.

He also seems to go through phases where he gets the "I WANTS" and that's all he can think about. The latest object of his affection are these Fluance speakers he found first mentioned on AnandTech. Ever since then, he's been browsing Ebay to see how much he can get them for, and trying to sell off his current set of speakers to earn the money to pay for them. He even sold the wireless router he got for free after rebate for $55 on Ebay. I'm not sure why guys are that way, but it seems that once they see something they like, they obsess about it until they finally possess it. At least he's getting the money first instead of blowing it on his credit card. That's good, isn't it?

On Monday and Tuesday he spent a great deal of time at work finishing up a small project that his boss passed down to him. And he was in Baton Rouge again on Wednesday and Thursday to present a seminar to potential clients. He doesn't travel much usually, but as of late, he's been down to Louisiana almost every week. Not that he minds. Cajun cuisine is one of his favorites. In fact, both him and his boss put away 6 lbs of boiled crawfish each on Tuesday night. I overheard them comment that they were spicy, hot, and absolutely delicious. And if that wasn't enough, they stopped for dessert at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro. Unfortunately for me, I could only watch and salivate from outside.

His other obsession of late is painting his computer case. I'm not sure what sparked his interest in doing that, but if you know Cliff, he always has to be doing "something" to his computer. Perhaps converting his drives to stealth drives got him thinking about painting them over. Co-worker Buddy and him discussed what he should paint his case, and I think they are going to try to paint the sides and top black with "hot rod" flames, and the front will be yellow from where the flames will emanate. The bay covers will be red and orange to match the flames. In fact, he wetsanded off the original finish Tuesday night before he left for his trip, and he spent most of this morning priming and painting the front of the case.

He seems to be having a fairly relaxing weekend for a change. At least he doesn't seem to have gone anywhere or have anything planned where he needs to leave town like he often does on the weekend. I shall continue to keep watching him and post my observations from time to time.