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October 31, 2005

momentum is a dangerous thing to lose.

this weekend was spent building up momentum and forcing myself to do work that needed to be done. and once i got started, i really didnt want to stop, because i knew, when i did, it would be hard getting back to it. conversing with the TikiMaster helped.

got a regretful RSVP from mr. and ms. Z saying they wouldnt be able to attend thanksgiving, but that got me thinking that perhaps we should do a pre-Thanksgivng dinner with them and the TikiMaster who will all be out of town. I mentioned it to Nala, and then, an idea came together. The dinner will be motivation to finish the TikiMaster suite, where our friend jay stays when he visits.

yesterday, we fixed the back gate's sagging post and demolished the garage-door-opener which had been attached. sure, it was a great idea, but the sagging gate dragged on the ground and not only burnt out the motor, but broke the chain, leaving the whole thing to rust, while its untreated lumber housing rotted away.

and, i replaced our old mercury-based thermostat with a new electronic model with 7 individual day, 4 zone-per-day settings. it seems to be working perfectly so far, but then again, it has been warm.

i also measured (and ordered) the storm windows for our breakfast nook. i hope i never again have to spend that much money at lowe's.

tonight, my hopes are to work some on the plants from outside, clean up the stove, and the breakfast nook. perhaps even run to an appliance mart to get a new dehumidifier. and maybe even return mr. and mrs. T's table. and there's an old grill to be delivered. and i need to clean up the dog kennel and put it away.

and, i need to email the folks, and jeff re: his website, and ...

damn. i need another day off. or 5.

gigakitten

as i was leaving for work this morning (7:15) a tabby kitten with a
collar and bell came SPRINTING up to me on the porch. she would NOT
leave me alone, and was obviously somebody's pet. i could see no front
claws, and she was VERY friendly, wanting to be petted and picked up.

i ducked inside to try to figure out what to do, hoping that she
wouldnt leave. i went back outside and sat with her for a while, and
as people appeared outside, i asked if they knew whose kitten she was.
nobody knew.

finally, i ended up digging out hensley's kennel, a towel, a food and
water dish, and a makeshift litter box, and left her in it on the
front porch. she was ok with being in the kennel (as soon as food
appeared she went in), and then i shut the door, and she was still ok.
as i drove off, she was using the litter box.

my hope is that with her on the porch, her owners can hear her cries,
or maybe even see her. i just couldnt stay home from work to make sure
she was ok.

here's hoping we dont have to flyer the neighborhood.

An update: When Nala went home for lunch around 11, kitten was gone, and kennel was locked, so, someone took her. Hopefully her owner. Such a sweet kitten.

wtf am i smiling?

geez. check it. nala and I worked together, finished a project without getting frustrated, and i'm smiling?

is the world coming to an end?

October 27, 2005

thursday? really?

tidbits:

i got an IM from my friend anthony about a new podcast interview he did with the other 'matic, andymatic, who is one of my favorite bloggers, and has been since the old days of Domino's "Bad Andy" campaign. I was a little excited, but I couldn't listen, since a) it was my bedtime when i found out, and b) lack of computer. so, i'm listening today at work.

got email from the electronic frontier foundation talking about invisible codes that Xerox color copiers imprint on every page with the time and serial number of the copier. interesting.

ikea is having a big 20th anniversary sale this weekend. not worth the $40+ in gas money.

must rsvp for the toys-we-be university employee event this weekend.

i'm finally gaining on a mac g5 install here. need freehand, office, antivirus, fonts, and printers installed. will probably only get freehand installed before i have to take it over to the user across campus. then maybe i can start on my own.

must do evals today, and then work on backing up my posts from trustysidekicks. i've got 3 more that need to be finished, too.

then, maybe, i can also try again to migrate our alumni boards to the new server.

oh, and i cant forget about the db connection i'm trying to troubleshoot, but MS hasnt documented well enough.

all in a days work.

and another thing: freshman found dead in his 17th floor bed. friends say "natural causes? unlikely."

October 26, 2005

a truck update

got the truck back last night -- didnt hear anything abnormal. everything was good with the indicators. seemed to be running ok. only paid 28.95 for an oil change (although, when they brought the bill, it was $35 -- I argued them back down since it was quoted at 28.95 -- $5 for rags and misc. incidentals added to the price of an oil change seemed excessive.)

this morning, i noticed it is running differently, which may be due to the fact i have a fully functioning alternator again, but seems a bit louder than ever. and, of course, now the brakes are starting to squeak, although the inspection didn't note anything, so maybe that's just moisture.

whenever i get a car back, i'm hypersensitive about it.

and yes, cynedd, i do have a black cloud. it only stops me from smiling 99.5 percent of the time.

October 25, 2005

one more thing...

between Max talking about the 6" of snow his inlaws got up in eastern PA, and my parents telling me of the snow they got... i'm a little frozen thinking about what kind of winter we'll have. granted, they're about 400-500 feet higher in elevation, but still -sheesh.

brr.

i hope it stops raining so i can get some measurements outside.

goodbye trees

well, some idiots in a backhoe decided to tear out some 30 year old trees next to our building today. i swear, using the right tool for the right job is a foreign concept to them.

would've at least been good firewood, but instead, now it's just a big mess. and for what? we're not even sure.

doy moment of the day

i was putting on my jacket to go home for lunch, and then realized, my truck is in the shop. i had no change for the snack machine, nor any cash, nor did i bring a snack from home.

thank goodness for my coworker, who volunteered to run me to toxic hell. they now take debit cards.

and, by the way, no update on the truck, which was not only making odd noises from the fan, flickering in the dashboard warning lights, draining the battery, but also sounded like it was misfiring by the time i got it to the shop. and it needed recall service on the ignition, and an oil change.

oh, and the keys that the other dealership decided not to give me? even though they're JUST pieces of metal with no chip, they start at $9. $9!

update: i just got off the phone with the dealership. that key, no electronics, nothing special, $20. per key. $20!! um, no, not for something you owed me in the first place. so, i phoned the salesman, and i've got one coming in the mail. yeah, heard that before. told him if I didnt have one in a week, i'd be calling him again.

in other news, my truck's odd behavior in the last 2 days seems to be a faulty alternator. they've got one coming, but it hasnt arrived yet. so, i will probably be without a truck for another day. if that doesnt fix the problem, it could be even longer.

happy happy joy joy.

October 24, 2005

it's only money-- err, monday.

so, the day has come when i have to take my truck in for service, and of course, the dealership where i bought it is booked till late Thursday, so I am taking it to another dealership in their chain. tonight.

first, the warning lights (at least 5 separate ones) were flickering, (not to be confused with blinking), the battery light would come on and stay on, at random, as well as the word "battery" and "brakes" in the digital display. along with the "check oil" warning that wouldnt go out despite an oil change, and i hadnt had time to get it serviced.

while it's in, i'm going to have the oil changed, and also get the recall service on the ignition done.

it shouldnt cost me anything (aside from the oil change), as the truck is still under bumper-to-bumper warranty. but, i know i'll be lucky to get out of there for under $300, just because that's par for my dealings with the dealer.

October 23, 2005

aqua dork

So, I finished watching the Smallville Aquaman episode. I stand by calling him Piranha-teeth, but overall can't find fault with anything but the total cheese factor, which was high. But, no higher than usual.

Arthur curry, son of a lighthousekeeper who swims like a lead weight, and a mother who died when he was an infant. He needs to stay hydrated to stay super strong. He swims faster than clark. He can ball up water and throw it while underwater. He defends the underwater ecosystems.

he calls clark both a boyscout and Superboy.He jokes with clark about starting a junior lifeguards association. Clark says he's not ready for the jla just yet. Ha ha, repeated joke from the flash episode.

And speaking of the flash episode, he mentions meeting someone who could run faster than his own good, to chloe. Why wouldn't she remember Bart? Or didn't clark want to tell her who it was.

All I know is, next week's episode has vampires, and more Lois, and I think I'll skip it.

October 21, 2005

i'm not ranting.

i'm just rambling.

so, I read a rumor this morning that there will be an unofficial continuation of the Kingdom Come line of figures, including Jade and Spectre, made in the "Elseworlds" line of figures. This was apparently in ToyFare, but since I have yet to read it in any detail, I cannot confirm.

That, my friends, would be sweet. Perhaps then we could get Norman McCay or Human Bomb, or NightStar or whatever her name was. (I've seen a custom, and it kicked ass. I was not going to spend $40 for a custom though, at the time. Looking back, it was probably worth it.)

I've seen LOTS of complaints about the JLU Black Canary (Target Exclusive) figure. and my retort is "Hey, at least you got a figure of a female character. And she looks like the maquette. And, she's painted well." Alas, apparently, like most of the other JLU figures, she has trouble standing. I havent taken mine out of the package yet. Canary, Orion, and Bizarro were meant to be the Target exclusives, but due to a shipping error, some Targets got exclusive 3-packs meant for grocery stores, featuring silvery repaints of Supes, WonderWoman, and a Brainiac figure. The Targets in question seem to be limited to the East coast.

This week, I picked up #2/5 of the Alex Ross Justice series 2 for half price: Parasite. Last week, I paid full price and got a Canary before she sold out. She's BEAUTIFUL -- just like the Alex Ross rendering. Then again, so is Black Manta, but I'm saving him, Batman, and Aquaman for another time. Parasite, like all the Ross villains in the Justice book, is disgusting. No, really, I mean it. Did you read issue 2? Did you see the Brainiac in a labcoat dripping blood?

I hate to say it, but it gives me high hopes for the appearance of Brainiac in the Smallville show. Oh wait, did I spoil that for you? Too bad, because he's Spike from Buffy and he KICKS ASS. Well, not yet he doesnt, since he's only appeared as a liquid-but-crystalline pool which congealed into a naked Spike, but hey... what a way to show up in the series.

I also watched the first 2 minutes of this week's Smallville this morning, and dog-faced Arthur Curry (no, he's not just "AC" -- that's his nickname) saves Lois's life. I thought that bitch was gone. She's supposed to be in Europe, dammit, looking for Lucy Lam. I mean, Lucy on the lam. Because the General is pissed. But, there she is, hitting her head on the raft while diving into the water... and then getting CPR from ole Piranha-teeth Curry himself. Seriously, his original press shot was hot looking, but somebody beat him with an ugly stick in the meantime. I'd blame the bad ceasar haircut, but that's only distracting me from his chomp-a-chewy-chompers. And sure, he has a nice body, but even then, whatever hunkyness he has looks like it's artificial now. Like he "cut" too much or something. Now, Clark, however, still looks damn good, despite having lost the thin flat-stomach of youth and maturing into the manly-muscled body of ... well ... Superman. He's solid now, and it seems to have happened when nobody was looking. Dammit -- his time is now limited. 2 more seasons to beergut, I tell ya. And Lois? Her bikini wasn't flattering... bad costume choice on someone's part. Yeah, we like the boobies, but girl wasnt shaped quite right for it.

On to comics: Birds remains one of my favorite books, because, unlike most, it's about the people, not so much about the villain of the week. And I'm thinking the rumor I read about Ollie getting married might be true.

Ok, enough analysis. Time to get back to work.

October 20, 2005

a day brightened...

today, i got a card in the mail from my sister, filled with as much 10-pt-sized handwritten text as would fit on the two inner pages.

"I lost your phone number. Again. Sorry!"

But to tell the truth, a handwritten letter meant more than a $10 phone call. News of my niece's progress into the world of the toddler... the sis's wishes to provide her with a sibling, but the realization she would have almost NO time to spend with them; the dread over not being able to afford a piece of land, let alone a home; the glee in finding out her husband's ex wife had to declare bankruptcy (and it wouldnt affect the husband in the least).

It actually made me remember the things that i know: things exist that are more important than vacation, or money, or lack thereof. time spent with our loved ones, the memories we make (or share later), the homes we make for ourselves.

so, tonight, after the kimchee is gone, and after i make chili, i'm going to dig out the blankets, curl up next to a certain someone, and get lost in one refreshing moment of peace before sleep.

its an off week

I blame the full moon, the temperature changes, and the darkness of impending winter, but thsi week has been exceptionally odd.

I'm really hoping that chili at a retirement party for a friend will help tomorrow. And Korean food tonight.

And maybe nookie later.

some lucky bastard

one winning ticket was sold for the near-record $340M powerball jackpot, i heard on the news this morning.

$340M. Ok... let's say that person took the cash option. $170M.
Half that for taxes: $85M.
Interest after 1 year at 3% yield: $2.55M

$2.55M IN INTEREST.

you know, after this year of crazy hurricanes and forest fires, floods, and such, I would take care of my family's needs first, then my own, then start building communities for the folks still in government temporary shelters after LAST year's hurricanes. but, you know, in spots less likely to be disaster zones.

i'd definitely think about building my dad a "hurricane proof" home in florida, since he really likes it there (after the hurricanes leave, and before the heat and humidity rise).

And, I know you're sick of hearing about it -- but I'd buy that old car dealership on Torrence and High for a comics/collectibles shop. Yep. Sure, the farmers markets and craft shows can stay there, every Saturday (and Sunday if they wanted). I'd even make sure Cup-O-Joe was there with free pastries and coffee. Gotta support local businesses.

And I'd make sure to buy a home on East Torrence, so I could walk to work there.

And I'd think about razing my current neighborhood, building by building, and creating a DMZ between campus and Clintonville. Perhaps I would leave the single-family homes, and rent them ONLY to faculty and staff. After all, by then, you'd have wide open parks and yards for children to play in. Hm.

My bitterness to the campus trash always comes out, doesnt it.

October 19, 2005

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

is it the full moon or is it just crazy people?

i'm so ready for this week to be over -- and it's just wednesday.
i'm working as fast as i can, and not staying afloat.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaH!

what day is it?

ok. i know, because my computer tells me so, that it's Wednesday. i just am having the strangest sleep patterns and dreams and general lack of rest... couple that with some odd aches and pains, and add some abrasions in my mouth (presumably from granola and kettle-chips), and just a general bad feeling, and you've got prime time for Giga to be a dick.

Oh. The pressure is on at work, too. Go figure. I've got two large projects to finish, not counting some extra crap which has crept onto my list while I wasnt looking.

So. On to the reason I was going to write an entry: Television. I LOVE TELEVISION. Specifically, I love some shows which a lot of people hate. I could go on and on about all of them, but instead, I'll just start with one.

Boston LEGAL.

You know why I love it? Is it because it's got the guy from Keen Eddie? or the guy from Stargate (not to mention the fact he's reprising a role from The Practice, along with this chick, who was also in Party of Five?). Is it because Rene Auberjonois is in it? Or Murphy Brown? Or that short little weasely guy from every show that needed a short little faggoty weasely guy?Or guest starts like Rupert Everett or the sex bomb, Heather Locklear? Or the man himself, Mr. William Shatner? Or motherfuckin BETTY WHITE?

I'm sorry -- It's Betty. Although, her character has little to do with the story, most episodes. The rest of the cast works together extremely well, aside from, possibly this guy, who I do NOT like so far. But, he's only 23, so I guess I'll cut him a break.

October 17, 2005

yargh.

days when i dont feel like spending the time are days when something displays strangely in IE.

then there's the days i dont care.

note: i've added a link to the fit/food blog in the sidebar.

another week, another migraine

it's monday.
i was late to work.
i watched the toledo riot news.

work is making me crazy.
so much crap to do.
i can do it if I work through it all methodically.

i got 2 voicemails on my dead cell phone this weekend, and havent answered either. which makes 3 long distance calls i need to make.

and it's lunchtime.

October 14, 2005

it's my birthday, already?

so, my parents came by my work today and dropped off power of attorney paperwork. and birthday presents! since they won't be around for my birthday, they thought they'd just drop them off now.

i got a quilt my mom started for me in 1990. and a new rechargable drill (Blackanddecker!) with TWO batteries. Use one while the other is charging! Sweet!

tomorrow, my parents have been married 39 years. THIRTY NINE. holy crap. and of course I forgot. oops. too busy this week.

enough with the pizza and cake...

as a thank you for the staff, they've ordered pizza for lunch today.
and probably cake for dessert, too.
on top of the prime rib and garlic potatoes and death by chocolate cake (and booze) from last night.
on top of the breakfast yesterday.
on top of the pizza wednesday night.
on top of the most incredible cheesecake wednesday afternoon.
on top of Panera's turkey sandwich and garden veggie soup wednesday noon.
on top of the doughnuts i had wednesday morning.
on top of the Tuesday night harvest dinner.
on top of the Tuesday lunch from Chipotle.

this week has been hell on my weight. i'd been so good!

"those who rule the young will control the future."

Taking a hint from animated phenom Justice League: Unlimited, Teen Titans starts a new season with 4 new characters, DC's Doom Patrol. Mento (Steve), Elastigirl (Rita), Negative Man (Larry) , and Robotman (Cliff). We get more character development and backstory in 2 episodes than in the first 4 seasons of Titans, and the audience finally finds out Beast Boy's real name: Garfield.

We're also introduced to another villain group, the Brotherhood of Evil. I was ecstatic. Finally someone other than the lame made-for-tv one-shot villains, or the big three: Trigon, Brother Blood, and Slade. Now, we're introduced to The Brain, Msr. Mallah, Madame Rouge, and General Immortus. The Brain's battle-suit ends up looking very much like the Emperor Dalek from Doctor Who, which made me giddy, of course, and falls prey to the same problems that Dalek's do: no feet, and easily tipped.

At the end of "Homecoming, Part II," when the Brotherhood is seemingly defeated by the combined forces of the Doom Patrol and Teen Titans, the Brain is regrouping, and as most evil megalomaniacs, gathers others to hear his monologues.

"The face of our enemy has changed," his synth-heavy voice drones as the camera pans down a series of computer monitors. In them, starting at the top, we see Raven, the Doom Patrol, and Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg, Robin and Speedy, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Wonder Girl, Mas y Menos, Bumblebee, Red Star, Tramm the Fish Boy, Kilowatt, Jericho, Bushido, Herald, Argent and Pantha.

As the camera turns to face the great hall, Brain keeps monologuing: "Those who rule the young will control the future," and the camera pans over about 30 villains.

At the left, we start with Billy Numerous, Dr. Light, Mammoth, Gizmo, Jinx, Psimon, Cinderblock, Red X, Adonis, Trident, Puppet King, Jonny Rancid, Mumbo, Prof. Chang, Plasmus, Kid Wykyyd, Angel, Warp, Phobia, Punk Rocket, Killer Moth, Kardiak, XL Terrestrial, Atlas, Katarou, Le Blanc, Control Freak, Wintergreen, Instigator, Headmistress, HIVE student: wrestler guy-blue with star on chest and red hood, Fang, Kitten, Mad Mod, Barbarian Witch, Malchior, Steamroller, Mother Mae-eye, Master of Games, Ding Dong Daddy, See-More, Overload, The Source & Bob, Private Hive, and Cheshire.

Many of the HIVE students have not been named on-screen as of yet, and they may not, even in season 5, especially as I've just read that WonderGirl (or Hero #7) will make no more appearances this season.

Still, I have to say a big thank you to Murikami for bringin' the bigger story arcs and adding to the cast this season. Sure, I know this is a kids' show, and we'll end up with no shortage of one-shot episodes and major cheese, but the fact remains, he brought the older fans something to be proud of, in addition to providing entertainment to the under-10 set.

quite a party. can i sleep now?

erk. i know i cant... but i really want to.

the party last night was AMAZING.
it had Elvis. and free booze. and food catered by the Bistro, which was beyond delicious. and i'm not just talking about the prime rib.

seeing my big boss tipsy, and her mom tipsy, and everybody tipsy: priceless. especially when Elvis made them get up and dance. and sing.

priceless. i was only kicking myself for not digging out the dept's digital camera.

best company party ever.

of course, i havent really seen Nala in 3 days, which kind of sucks. and i'm supposed to meet my parents today at lunchtime here at work, and that's going to suck simply because I can't spend any time with them, and then they'll be heading to Florida.

October 13, 2005

argh. food.

need food. so hungry.
eating here.
thank goodness for work friends.

brain on idle

i'm at work.
i got home around/shortly after midnight.
i got to work around 8, barely awake, and late, partly because my alarms didnt all go off, partly because somebody didnt leave to go to the gym (and that ALWAYS throws my schedule off), but mainly because I was so incredibly tired.

and then I rushed while the hoont was outside pooping to gather vases and fresh flowers, as the tours from the conference are coming thru our building today. i had no cash to buy more flowers, so they would have to make do with what i could find.

and they did. but then, i was late for the free breakfast this morning. I ate lukewarm scrambled veggie-omelette-like eggs, and a couple of breakfast breads, and had a small glass of juice while i waited for the coffee pot in the lobby to be refilled. which it wasnt. for half an hour. finally i could bs no longer with the holier-than-thou vendors and scurried back to the copy-center cave to see what I could do for those folks today.

a couple hours went by and i was back at my desk. without any coffee.

i looked at my task list, went home and read Infinite Crisis #1, and then came back.

my brain is filled with useless knowledge and planning that will amount to nothing.

two hours from now, i'll be able to get a drink at the free happy hour, and get a free meal at a 4-star restaurant with some buddies from work.

i'm just in a zone, floating along. and i really just want to curl up and sleep.
maybe tomorrow.

October 12, 2005

evenin.

i'm still at work yo.

my friend Christine is leaving on a bus for NYC in the next hour.
i'm still at work.
i wont see her for at least a year and I am sad.

i'm sleepy.
i'm grumpy.
my feet hurt.

but at least there's a promise of free breakfast at the conference tomorrow.

yeah. really good free breakfast.

October 11, 2005

oh how the mighty fall...

ok... so i said there was a conference this week. the cynical staff here has been debating whether management overinflated or overestimated the numbers of people who were coming.

under 70 people registered, according to the website. some of those were retirees and some were vendors. i didnt have to drive (hooray) to the golf outing, so I dont know how many went there -- but it had some unregistered retirees.

i just talked to the chauffeur for the shopping excursion. well, one of them. turns out they only needed one, because only 2 out of 8 people showed up. and so we didnt need to rent the 15 passenger van.

and of course, our tech guy who went over to help vendors set up? 3 out of 20some vendors had actually showed up before lunch, when they were supposed to all arrive by 10am. who knows what it will be like tomorrow.

also, the map for the vendor area was not clear as to who was setting up where. maybe they just all got lost, but methinks they all mightve decided not to show up today.

smurfing with a smurf

Unicef bombs the smurfs.

The short film pulls no punches. It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand-in-hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom- shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.

eurotrip and other such crap.

feeling very odd today. it's not your typical day. there's a strange energy in the air, and there's a lot of panic, due to the conference this week (starting today).

so far, i've managed to not get drafted into driving a 15 passenger van for the golf outing. that's only because i've been working on fixing an emergency POS POS issue.

tomorrow, we're supposed to be installing a large SAN. however, a 6-week clusterf*ck of a mixup at the vendor which we thought was resolved 3 weeks ago, reared its ugly head again yesterday, and after an hour on the phone, we thought it was resolved again, only to receive email that they are trying to ship us the wrong parts. for an install TOMORROW.

back to the conference... we got free shirts. black with big square red logo patches. fantastic.

then, we got our name badges, and the first thing to mind was the movie Eurotrip... and the tour-guide twin's pack for his ID, money, etc etc... "Frommers says to carry ...." I wish I were joking. That's what it is. It's one of those packs with a bunch of pockets for whatever and a window for your ID. It's sized for a passport, a couple pens, a small notebook, an ID, and also has pockets for wallet and change. And it hangs around your neck, because, instead of being really useful and having a strap where you could attach it properly, it has a shoestring. Yep. Spared no expense. Oh wait, they saved the money on these to pay for dinner at the 4-star restaurant.

*sigh*

ok... and what's going on with the weather, anyway? have you seen all the crap that's been happening? 20" of snow in Denver. Sure, that's common, in a month or so when it's been cold and snowy for a while. And the hurricanes... you heard about Rita and Katrina, but what about Stan and Tammy? And mudslides and earthquakes and wildfires and it's all enough to make you turn off your TV.

I had a "holy crap" moment while watching the news this morning. Thanks to all the activity everywhere else, and admittedly a "lack of weather reporting stations nearby" it was barely a blip on CNN, but New Hampshire and some nearby parts of New England got swamped with 15" of rain in 24 hours thanks to Tammy. 15 INCHES. Roads, bridges, homes, and in one place, 5 miles of power lines were washed away...

Floodwaters tore up pavement and dug gullies 12 feet deep and 20 feet wide for miles. The destruction was one of numerous obstacles to restoring power and telephone service. "Five miles of utility poles were taken out along Route 123 in Alstead and there's no road left. So where do we put the poles?" asked David Graves of National Grid, which owns the local power utility.

The worst? It's still raining, so they said on the news this morning.

I wonder what lakes and rivers look like now. I wonder how my family is doing. I wonder if everyone can still get to work, or to the doctor, or if anybody lost a home. I think I may email cousin Linda and my friend Nik just to be sure.

October 6, 2005

why... even when I'm leaving... do I get f*cked...

I got everything set up on the new alumni site for MovableType. edited the user, got the db created, and was all ready to export from the old and import to the new, when...

the db on the old site was f*cked. again.

AGAIN.

so of course, I used the shitty webform they provided and let them know I needed this table fixed. asap. which means, by Monday, if they feel like it, they will help.

as far as IkonBoard... I have all that data backed up from a couple weeks (months?) ago, but dont know if that will import correctly. That still remains to be seen.

update: yep. that worked. the data is there. sent to other admins for testing.

burmese python explodes after eating alligator

I am not kidding you. I saw this on CNN, also.

the carcass of a six-foot American alligator is shown protruding from the midsection of a 13-foot Burmese python Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 in Everglades National Park, Fla., after the snake apparently swallowed the alligator, resulting in the deaths of both animals.

Because Burmese pythons are native to Florida. Like alligators are native to Ohio.

plugging away...

I know you may've read my ramblings about it before, but I just thought I'd say (again) how much I enjoy reading the articles my friend Scott writes for Chicagoist.

I count Scott as one of my close friends, even though we hardly ever see each other (havent seen him since before he and his lovely wife got married -- and that was ... um... a while ago, to say the least). Hopefully, we'll get to see each other in the spring, if we all go back for the big 35th anniversary of our old radio station (which will, hopefully, be in its new digs by then, in a brand spankin new studio.)

Scott is also one of the administrators of our alumni website, and he's also started a freelance writing career. He can argue the finer points of domestic and imported beers, paws vs. cats, hockey vs. football, and still tell you why he preferred Buffy over Faith.

October 5, 2005

a couple more goals

Pay bills.
Clean office.
Redo sidebar links.
Email chad.
Iron all clothes for next week's conference.
Make sure I have dress clothes that fit.

why the lack of sidekicks?

A number of folks have asked me "what's with the lack of new articles at Trusty Sidekicks?" to which I've replied "the database got corrupted somehow, and Sparky (the most gracious host and founder) has been trying to find the time to deal with it."

Tomorrow's goals (for me) will be to a) finally get my comment links pointing to the right pages. b) get all my alumni files (and database) copied to the new host, c) back up all my original gigamatic site stuff, d) cancel my olm account, e) test the new alumni site, f) back up (manually) all my entries from sidekicks, g) write my sidekicks bio.

And that's all before 8am.

October 4, 2005

tuesday blues

monday was a hell day. then, when i got home, i felt horrible, with my stomach in knots like I ate something bad. i pitched everything I had eaten that afternoon, just to be sure... and 4 hours later I finally felt ok. another wasted evening.

parents emailed asking for boxes. good thing i've been stockpiling in my office at work. need to finish archiving battlestar galactica season 2 for them. they'll be here next Friday, the 14th. i think it's my last chance to see them before they head south.

on a different note, I had my meeting with the bosses yesterday regarding raises. it (again) was piss poor (I work for the state), but offset by a "bonus" that was a "one time deal" for my "work on special projects throughout the year". it's also offset by the fact we're getting real training for the first time in 5 years.

ok. i'm off to a 2 hour meeting up the hill, with some contractors who are raping our sister department, moneywise. this project started in summer, and it's still not done, and it cost at least $15k. for basically 2 weeks of work. it is, as they say, quite insane. having been in the contractor's seat, i know both sides of this project well, but it still irks me.