Mood: Headachy.
Music: Give Blood, Pete Townshend.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: Hell's Angels, Ralph "Sonny" Barger
Muffin: None.
Punchline: None.
Got to work a bit before 9am today. Been feeling a touch headachy...vaguely headcoldish. Probably just a weather change. Was warmer and very sunny this morning.
When I got in, my boss was nowhere to be found. I'd expected him to be in before me, already working on this claim. Yes, we're still grinding through this claim.
Instead, he's nowhere to be found, and so I set up, get ready to work when my Nextel chirps. He says he's been trying to reach me. Whatever...Nextel reception borders on sporadic. On the good side. On the other side is patent crap. Anyway, he was called in to donate blood at 8am this morning, or something. Special antigens or whatever. He's gonna be in around 10am. That's fine. I have enough to keep me busy.
Then I kinda thought about it...I don't think about it much, because there's not much I can do about it. I can't donate blood.
I can't donate blood because I lived in the UK during the whole BSE scare, and I lived in Hong Kong during the SARS thing...just to reinforce the "No fucking way, pal" on my blood.
I'm sure it'd still be useful for research or whatever...but apparently, since 9/11, they have plenty of people donating blood. So since I'm considered high-risk, they won't let me donate. I suppose I could try again...I haven't tried in about two years. It's possible that they've lightened the restrictions. Maybe I'll try again.
I did have dinner with Mike...and he's still Mike. Had a great time. I'll write about it some other time when I don't have to get this work done so I can get out of here and clean my house...because there's a Fookus coming tomorrow morning, and we can't have a dirty house for a visiting Fookus.
Have a happy Memorial Day, all.
Mood: Pretty good.
Music: Blow Me Away, Breaking Benjamin.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: Hell's Angels, Hunter S. Thompson
Muffin: Strawberry-Apricot.
Punchline: I dunno.
Well, after I fixed the leaking AC unit in the server, I was sitting at my desk, reading mail and vaguely thinking about server configurations for the office, when my mobile phone rang.
My mobile phone probably gets the least use of any of my gadgets...and this is because I can be found sitting next to a phone in most circumstances, and when I'm not, I don't carry my phone. It should be noted that I carry my personal mobile phone along with my work Nextel, and while I get chirped on my Nextel a bunch of times a day, it's never a personal call. I don't give out my Nextel number to friends or family, and I don't give my personal number to people at work. I just prefer it that way.
In fact, there are really only two people who call me on my mobile phone: Colin, since he can't ever remember to put my home phone number in his mobile phone, and Jenai, because she only calls me when she and I are at work, and usually to arrange dinner or something. Adam insists that he calls me on my mobile all the time, but records show that he's called me exactly once in the last 4 months on my mobile phone, and that was over a month ago.
Occasionally, I get calls from Jenny Lee to let me know that she's running late to (dinner, the movie, the place we're meeting) but she'll be there shortly.
Basically, it's a seldom-used device.
Yesterday, I picked up my mobile phone and answered it like I answer my work phone...with my name. Odd thing to do on my personal phone, but whatever...I was sorta in work mode.
Whereupon I got asked if I was interested in going to Hop Kee. Glancing at my phone, the area code was 406. 406...familiar...sorta.
Mike Finkel. He was at the airport in Montana, was coming to town, and wanted to know if we'd recreate the ritual we created oh so many times while we were living on 19th Street. I said "of course." He explained that he was in town for a reading of a book he'd just finished, and he was also going to be on a morning show of some repute, and so on...but he really wanted to get together and catch up.
Mike was, and most likely still is, one of the great human beings of our time. I could dismiss him as an adrenaline junkie, which he certainly was...but it was more that he was a man in search of adventure. Mike was a writer...sort of. He travelled around the world to do things no one had done, then wrote about them for Skiing, Times Magazine, National Geographic and others who would foot the bill. He got more free junk from gear manufacturers than anyone I know...mainly because he was crazy, and if crazy people use your gear, it carries cred in the world of adventuring. In short, Mike was Hunter S. Thompson, but less drugs and firearms and more activity and outdoor adventuring.
Anyway, Mike wanted to catch up. He asked if I knew anything about the book...I replied that unless it was one of the books he was writing when we were living together, I didn't.
He paused. And then explained that no, it wasn't one of those...but that it was truly the strangest thing that had ever happened to him.
That gave me pause. And I replied "That's a pretty serious statement."
While I was living with Mike, he had run off to Iceland, found a crazed Icelander named Orn who had built his own airplane from a bathtub and a large motor, and convinced Orn to fly Mike and his skis to the top of a pristine glacier. Orn agreed, landed on the glacier, and managed to keep from pitching off the other side by throwing a boat anchor from the bathtub, which caught in the ice and snow. Mike then got out of the flying bathtub, strapped on his skis, and skiied down the glacier, which no man had ever stood on. The ultimate freshies.
We used to have various and sundry kindred spirits sleeping on our couch, bathtub, or floor...people who Mike had met on his many expeditions, and said "Hey, if you're ever in NYC, come crash on my floor." Our dishes were always done, and the assortment of trinkets, bottles of wine, and photos in thanks grew to epic proportions.
Mike once skiied down Mount Kilimanjaro because he thought it was a nice twist on literary history.
I once bailed him out of a border arrest while he was coming back from Canada. Long story.
When it stormed in NYC and we were living together, Mike grabbed me and my camera, and had me shoot a photos of how city dwellers could cross-country ski in Central Park. It was published in Skiing magazine.
We covered the World Pinball Championships together for Sports Illustrated...me with the glass, him with the words.
He was currently living in Bozeman, Montana, raising chickens and writing when the mood struck him, last I heard...still travelling around the world.
When Mike says it's the strangest thing that ever happened to him, it definitely had reason to give me pause.
We had a brief conversation, and I promised to have dinner with him on Wednesday, and we'd catch up...whereupon I felt obliged to find out what I was in for.
It took about 30 seconds...the web is good like that, if you know where your towel is at.
It seems that Mike was fired from the New York Times Magazine's staff quite unceremoniously for fabricating details in an expose of child slavery in the African chocolate trade. I shrugged at that. You could argue that Hunter S. Thompson lied and fabricated details all the time...when it suited his basic premises, and when it amused him to do so. But this was 2000, and this was the New York Times, not Rolling Stone in the late sixties, Mike was not Hunter, and the NYT was not amused in the slightest.
I suppose it could have been that he was just trapped in a story without facts, and decided to push it...but Mike knows the trade, and had to know that he'd be caught. I prefer to think it was just Mike's way...he's not a liar...but he IS a storyteller.
This would have been pretty straightforward, and wouldn't have surprised me but for the rest of the story. It seems that some insane man went out and slaughtered his family, then went on the run...which is sad...but where things get truly Mike-Proportioned is that the murderer then decided to pose as Mike Finkel, reporter for the New York Times.
Mike found out about this when a reporter called, asking Mike for details, and Mike said "About the New York Times?" and the reporter paused and said "No...about the murders." It only got stranger as Mike got in touch with this murderer and carried on a long correspondence with him.
Anyway, that's what Mike's book is about. It's called True Story...and I will be picking up a copy. He always could write well.
Now...I expect dinner tomorrow night to be VERY amusing.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Mood: Monday.
Music: The sound of dripping water.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: Hell's Angels, Hunter S. Thompson
Muffin: Was closed when I passed by at 7am.
Punchline: "And the flowers are still standing!"
Woke up this morning and was a bit sluggish getting out of bed. No reason, really. Just didn't really feel like going to work. But I peeled myself out of bed and headed into work anyway.
Knew it was going to be a bad day when the subway was packed. It's never packed like this. People nudging me the whole ride when all I wanted to do was sit down and nap. This lady kept poking me in the back with her bag. I kept looking at her, and she kept looking back, as if somehow I should stop bumping her. Whatever.
I couldn't even get a seat on the 7. Ridiculous.
Got into work, and the partners are in a meeting, so I can't get right to work on the claim I'm supposed to be working on. Instead, I decide to go to the server room to change the backup tapes...and the drip pan for the AC Unit there is filled with 4 inches of water. It's my very own indoor swimming pool. Lovely.
My boss and I "fixed" the AC unit last week because the condensate pump (the doohickey that pumps the water away from the AC unit and prevents it from dripping onto the floor) managed to get filled with rust and sediment and such, and needed to be fixed. I removed the pump, cleaned it, and got it working again. We reassembled it, the pump was working, and everything was fabulous. Except that when we reassembled the machine, apparently, we forgot to retighten the drain line, because it was spitting water directly into the pan. Lovely.
Except that I didn't SEE that before I disassembled the machine, so I disassembled it, confirmed that the pump was working...just in time to see the fitting on the drain line leaking. So I grabbed my adjustable and tightened it up. What do you know? No more leaking. So I reassembled the machine, got the wet vac, drained the drip pan, and turned the unit back on. With any luck, it's really fixed this time.
It's not even 10am yet...and I don't even have a muffin.
I hate Mondays.
Mood: Pretty good.
Music: For The Love of Big Brother, Eurythmics
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: Watching House of Flying Daggers on the PSP...
Muffin: Was closed when I passed by at 7am.
Punchline: Only a Sith thinks in absolutes.
So, I took off early from work yesterday, and saw Star Wars with my mom.
I don't really consider myself superstitious. I don't worry about black cats or the number 13, or anything. (I don't walk under ladders...but there's some pretty sound reasoning in that. Take it from a guy who walks construction sites.) But there was something in my head and gut that said that I really should see Star Wars on opening day with my mom...and I did. It's kind of odd that I felt that way...but it was important, and it was good to pull mom out of work and take off and see a matinee mid day.
Anyway, I'm not going to fill this blog with spoilers and such, but I will comment in general.
I have always been impressed with directors who are able to make a movie interesting to watch, even though you know the outcome and most of the story before the first frame comes up. My prime example has always been Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard.
Howard somehow took a very well documented historical event, and made it not only compelling...but nerve racking. That was no mean feat, because you KNEW they got home OK. The ability of the director and writer to hold that suspense and make you worry and care about characters you knew in your head were going to be OK is no easy task.
And this pretty much explains why George Lucas is a horrific director.
You know what happens to Anakin Skywalker. You know what happens to Amidala. You know what happens to Kenobi...and every other character in the movie. You know their arc. You know where they'll end up. But instead of worrying, caring, being upset that it happens, you just watch it unfold, and think "Yup. That's what happens."
The unfortunate part of this whole thing is that as attractive as Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen might be to the world at large, they cannot act to save themselves. And this is truly unfortunate...because this story is as rich as any of the Star Wars storylines. The passion between Solo and Leia is obvious...you can feel it. There is no passion between these two. They might as well be carved of wood. "OK...Natalie, you cry now." "OK, Hayden, give me your conflicted look." Not a thing they did was believable...it all felt hollow.
The true disappointment is that the fall of Anakin Skywalker could have been a glorious conflicted slide from light to dark...it could have been an illustration of how a good man becomes bad...and all through the best intentions. But instead, it becomes some hollow facial expressions and some inexplicable actions and behaviors.
None of this takes away from the great fights...(and I mean epic lightsaber duels...) and the movie is eminently watchable for that reason alone.
But what a missed opportunity due to insipid acting, and some teeth-gritting dialogue. Truly unfortunate. No CGI is going to change this...because if it could have, Lucas would have done it.
Go see it. With your mom, if you can.
Mood: Sleepy.
Music: Too early for music. Silence is working for me.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: The Village Voice...finished my book. Need another.
Muffin: Was closed when I passed by at 7am.
Punchline: Someone tell me a joke, please.
A bunch of the fellas over at ijsmp have started alts in World of Warcraft, as Guild Wars really hasn't found its mark with a lot of them.
Through their blogs, and on the forums, they've been marvelling at how enjoyable it is to play their alts...and how much more fun they're having.
The reasons for this are a well-known phenomenon for the veteran MMORPGer:
- You know the game now. Content that was challenging when you first started playing, because you had no idea how the systems worked, is now trivial...and easy to accomplish. You're whipping through the initial content, and earning rewards quickly. Advancement comes easy in the early levels...and carrot after carrot is always fun. Especially the happy ding sound.
- You don't have any false perceptions of what each class does...and you're able to play the game you actually want to play it, rather than trying to force a class archetype into your style of play. Initially, when you choose a class in a new MMORPG, you have a perception on how it ought to be played, and you try to find a class that you think meets your style of play...for me, I need to be up close and person with monsters. I can't do the blaster/magic thing. Never could. Either I'm beating 'em soundly, or I'm sitting back and healing. I don't do ranged damage, and any ranged damage class is right out. This eliminates over half my choices...and I'm OK with that. When I start a new MMORPG, I take a warrior or a rogue. Might not stay there, but that's where I do most of my feeling out. Many new players don't have that knowledge of their play style...and when they've chosen the hybrid pet class, and they're really happier doing blast damage or being up in melee, they're likely to not really enjoy the game as much as they could...because the game isn't playing the way they thought it should. Hybrid classes are not beginner classes, and shouldn't be chosen in the first release of a game in any case.
- Everyone starts at ground zero. That means that the party dynamic of abilities gets reset. Everyone likes a fresh start at being the guy everyone relies upon to do X. It's a nice change from "I'll hang out back again and shoot things." When everyone is equal again, everyone feels like they have a say, and can contribute.
- The early game is full of hooks. The beginner game is designed to pull you in to the world, and sink hooks into you so that you'll stay to level 60. The game has less and less hooks as you go up in levels, because they've already got your time invested, plus other things. But at level 1, all bets are off. So they keep trying to hook you. Getting rehooked is fun.
- Lastly, who doesn't like a fresh look? You've been looking at the back of an undead warrior for the last 8 months, and now you're looking at the back of an orc. New armor styles, new gear...new models. It's a change of pace.
Overall, I view the alt as a refinement in thinking of your initial character choice, if you're not fully in touch with your play style and if you're not 100% sure you know the roles of each class in a new MMORPG.
It's why the fellas are enjoying their alts. They're finally playing the class that they should have chosen in the first place...and doing so with the knowledge that it's what they want to do and how.
Mood: OK.
Music: Poison, Alice Cooper.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: The Real War, Jonathan Schell.
Muffin: Was closed when I passed by at 7am.
Punchline: Not a whole lot funny lately, it's true.
I hope this week goes a bit faster. I suspect it will.
I've been getting to work before 8am. In an attempt to jumpstart my attitude, I'm trying to go to bed earlier and get up earlier. So far, I'm not leaving work any earlier...which is what I suspected. But I do feel a bit better waking up earlier, and going to bed earlier, getting more sleep overall. It's definitely putting a damper on my muffin intake, however.
I think mentally, I'm in a pretty good place. Getting more rest helps. Things aren't exploding at work on a regular basis any more...although I'm holding servers together with chewing gum and baling wire right now. I've been doing specific tasks at work, and accomplishing them.
And I've decided that I'm going to cut out of work early on Thursday and catch a matinee of Star Wars with my mom. I think that's pretty important. My mom's moving to Florida soon, and I'm not going to be able to do stuff like this much more often.
Months ago, 'Phyxie mentioned that I write much better when I'm pissed off at something...and I guess I see his point. I suppose I've moved from anger to general resignation on a lot of things, which is probably impacting my writing. I do enjoy writing...I should do more of it....
I meant to get a book started this year...and the year's almost half over. I suppose I should get started, then...shouldn't I?
Mood: A bit tired, but not bad.
Music: J-E-N-O-V-A, Black Mages.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: The Real War, Jonathan Schell.
Muffin: Was closed when I passed by at 7am.
Punchline: "Early to bed and early to rise...makes people boring."
This weekend was supposed to be a polish my resume, clean my house kind of weekend.
Instead, it turned into a "think I'll just indulge my laziness and play games and cook" weekend. This isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Usually, when I play games all weekend, I get frustrated at some point, angry and people and what not. Didn't happen this weekend.
Saturday, I played World of Warcraft and ran BRD with Smitty, Thorn, Sloggie, and Abyss. (Ryan, Paul, Matt, and Drew...but the first set of names sounds more like a group of gaming geeks.) Seven and a half hours later, we actually ended up having completed the instance. First time for me...and in a five man, no less. We worked well together, and had fun. Not to say there wasn't plenty of death...but it just didn't matter. And that was great.
I should point out that during that run, I was supposed to have gone out to meet Adam, Colin, Mei, and some of her friends for some park action, then dinner at Two Boots, not that far from my house. Obviously, during each call, I was deep in the throes of trying to stay alive, and said "In the middle of something, go on without me and I'll try to catch up." By the time we finished, my friends were long gone. Oh well.
Which is probably a good thing, because immediately after that, I had a CoD TWL match. Which we won. But they gave us a far better fight than the previous two opponents. Was Chateau. I love that map...although the British weapons can be VERY tough to deal with. The first round, we took 'em by about 30 points, the second round, we took 'em by over a hundred. Wasn't the 900 point blowout we had last time. Played on their server, too. They all took off immediately after losing without even a "good game" afterwards. Must have been mighty pissed.
After that, watched some more Deadwood. I've been watching my way through the first season...and I have to say I like it a lot. I like a lot of the HBO series'. Funny, considering I don't watch TV...although I do seem to rent entire seasons of TV series and watch them in a row. Whatever. I'll watch the last episode of season one tonight. Go Go Netflix!
Sunday was a Deadwood and Guild Wars kinda day. Mainly Deadwood. Was a gorgeous day out...all my windows open and racked out on the couch. Made a yummy pork sammich for lunch, and between episodes of Deadwood ran inside and played some Guild Wars for a few hours. Did the dishes, did a general house clean up. Still need to vacuum. Probably do that when I get home tonight.
This week, the goal is to get the resume up to speed, and get it out to a few places in Seattle. I also need to get my Corporate Taxes done for Limewear, and close the business entity. Not going to pursue it here right now. I don't have the time or money with which to do it. I'll leave the site up, and sell through Cafe Press...but as far as bank accounts and taxes and such...just ain't worth it.
All in all, a pretty good mental health weekend.
I'm feeling a bit antsy about not having tickets to Star Wars on Weds night...but nothing I can do about it now. Guess I've moved down a notch in the geek scale this week. Not that I couldn't use a few points down after a weekend of gaming online.
Mood: Bleh.
Music: Institutionalized, Suicidal Tendencies.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: The Real War, Jonathan Schell.
Muffin: Was closed when I passed by at 7am.
Punchline: "..."
I haven't really been writing much.
The truth is that I just haven't felt like it. I haven't felt like playing games much. Haven't felt like doing...stuff.
It'd be too easy to characterize it at depression...I'm not depressed. I've been depressed before...and this ain't it. I think it's mainly just being in a rut...and I can't motivate myself to get out of it.
I feel like I have no energy. I can't get out of bed. At work, the day just drags.
Could it be something as simple as I really don't like my job, and so it's draining my energy and such? Work's been very stressful lately...just...no understanding of why I'm here. It's pretty obvious that they have no idea. I feel underappreciated. Yesterday I got chewed out for a good 20 minutes for being 30 minutes late...relatively speaking. I came in at 9:30am...doesn't matter that I work past 6pm every night. Doesn't matter that I often skip lunch or have to work while eating. Doesn't matter that I get called late at night or on weekends. When people start looking at your hours, the implication is that you're somehow not working right or well...you're not doing a good job. And frankly, that ticks me off.
Could be work, I guess. This weekend I will definitely polish the resume, get it out to some more places, start looking around. Really clean the apartment this weekend...time to restart again.
Mood: Paranoid.
Music: Clampdown, Clash.
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars.
Book: The Real War, Jonathan Schell.
Muffin: Raspberry-Mango.
Punchline: "Real ID."
The US Congress today passed the Real ID Act.
It wouldn't overly surprise me if you hadn't heard about it. The NY Times hasn't even covered it. You need to look in the Technology section, under a CNet byline to find any coverage on it. It was tacked on to an appropriations bill for spending in Iraq.
In short, "If the act's mandates take effect in May 2008, as expected, Americans will be required to obtain federally approved ID cards with "machine readable technology" that abides by Department of Homeland Security specifications. Anyone without such an ID card will be effectively prohibited from traveling by air or Amtrak, opening a bank account, or entering federal buildings."
They are going to restrict access to travel, finance, or federal/state buildings (such as the DMV, Social Security, Welfare, Unemployment...) unless you have an electronically readable card/ID that abides by Dept of Homeland Security standards.
Doesn't this sound remarkably like the Ausweises that the Nazi party issued to German citizens?
And wouldn't something like this, without some sort of biometric criteria attached make losing your wallet (or being pickpocketed) akin to basically giving your identity to someone else?
And if you add biometrics to this ID, aren't we now at a complete and utter lack of privacy?
Robert Heinlein wrote in the Notebooks of Lazarus Long (in Time Enough for Love) "When a place gets crowded enough to require IDs, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere. The best thing about space travel is that it made it possible to go elsewhere."
Unfortunately for us, we don't have space travel. We're stuck right here.
I truly fear for the US. Supporters are all about how it'll prevent terrorists from getting drivers licenses. Right. Because the laws we have preventing them from getting weapons, explosives, fissionable materials seem to be working peachy, so this should sort the rest of it out. No problem.
I just have one more question: Are police going to be stopping people on the street and asking to see their ID cards? What if they don't have one?
Mood: I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused.
Music: Malaguena Salerosa, Chingon
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars
Book: Whatever I have in my hands at the time. Cereal boxes, whatever.
Muffin: Blackberry-Raspberry
Punchline: "You don't have anything to do, right?"
I've been to every opening day/night of every Star Wars movie.
My father took me to Star Wars...just because he was a science-fiction fan. Turned out to be one of those life changing events...just like he took me to my first Rangers game.
When Empire opened, my mother pulled me out of school and took my brother and I.
When Jedi opened, I was in high school...my mother said "I assume you're cutting out to see Star Wars. I'll go with you."
When Episode I came out, I was living in London...and I flew back to see it with friends and my mom.
I had just moved back to the US from Hong Kong when I went to see Episode II.
Wednesday night, midnight, next week, Star Wars III, the final episode will be released.
And I won't be going.
Goes without saying that I'll see it...but I think I'm done with midnight movies for a while. It's tiring, it's Wednesday night, and work's been very draining lately. People are skeptical as to whether it makes sense to go to a movie they strongly suspect will be pretty bad...especially at midnight.
I don't think I'm gonna fall victim to the hype this time. I'll probably see it that weekend along with the rest of the world...or maybe I'll catch it later that week. Whatever it is, I'll take my mom, maybe a friend or two, and call it the end of an era.
I'm vaguely ticked at the pre-movie hype, not surprised by the release of toys, games, and music BEFORE the movie is released...I mean, we pretty much know what happens, right? There's no surprises coming here. I won't spoil it for you in case you've been in a small locked closet for the last 30 years.
Whatever. Years ago, I would have been really excited about it all...but now...I don't know. I guess I want to see it...but it's not the event it used to be.
Maybe I'll cut out of work on Thursday and catch a matinee....
Mood: Frantic and pissed.
Music: You Only Live Twice, Bjork
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars
Book: America, Daily Show with John Stewart
Muffin: Blackberry-Raspberry
Punchline: "Are you kidding me?"
OK...so my boss's Outlook died. It's just quits out every time he checks his mail. It's not his pst, it's not Outlook, so it's something OS related. I don't know what it is, and I don't really have time to rip apart everything to figure out what's wrong...so I need to rebuild a machine from scratch so he can have his email. Of course, he's leaving early today, and I didn't have any spares...so I'm rebuilding my laptop with a new HD. I'm working on a much slower much more destroyed field tech machine...which I juryrigged to handle my hard drive so I have access to my data. Race against the clock Windows installs. Always pleasant.
Naturally, a rebuild is a pain in the ass. Just shoot me.
On top of that, the three new ruggedized laptops that were supposed to be in today were delayed until next week. This, of course, results in technicians sitting around with slow laptops, and us losing money as they sit around. Now, they promised me these machines at the end of April, and me getting them mid-May is not what I had in mind when I paid an extreme premium for these machines. I was sure to let my sales rep know that this was a problem in none-too-pleasant terms. The sales guy meant well, but now he knows that if he says "You'll have them on ____" they will fucking well be there on that date.
And now, while I'm patching the hell out of my boss' machine, I'm on hold with Dell tech support in India, explaining to the nice lady that I have a monitor that's failed, and need to get it replaced, and she's asking me if I tried turning it off and on.
And I need to get on the phone with Nextel when I get off the phone with Dell to get my boss a new Blackberry.
No, I am NOT the IT guy here. It just seems very seriously like that, doesn't it?
Mood: Late.
Music: Crazy, Icehouse
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars
Book: America, Daily Show with John Stewart
Muffin: Blackberry-Sweet Plum
Punchline: "Oh, is THAT why everyone left work early today?" "Not me. I left early because I hate work."
Blogthing/Quiz/Test: Does Your English Cut the Mustard?
Your English Skills: |
| Grammar: 100% |
| Punctuation: 100% |
| Spelling: 100% |
| Vocabulary: 100% |
Got the World of Warcraft event done, had some time to play a little Guild Wars, then warmed up and ran Stanjel for about an hour. Then Adam called, and we played Guild Wars until 2am. Bad.
Adam gets to work from home. Adam is working from home today. Glenn does not get to work from home. Glenn was late to work today. Are we seeing a problem here?
Yes. Clearly, Glenn needs to be able to work from home. Or not play games until 2am. Which, to be honest, is not really likely. Time to find a new job.
Anyway, quick analysis of UO_Stanjel tells me that it's a VERY unforgiving map. Pretty clear sightlines or very tight enclosed spaces leads to being sniped or grenaded, respectively. Once you get a radio capped, it's going to be relatively easy to secure it. On the other hand, if you need to destroy a radio, it's going to take some serious coordination and concentrated firepower, along with good timing to ensure that reinforcements don't show up at the wrong time.
Last match, we relied heavily on superior firepower and pretty good tactics...but you could run and gun that map. This one is going to require more patience and timing...and we didn't practice, because folks just couldn't get it together. If we think we're going to keep winning on pubbing it, I think we're wrong.
On the other hand, there's no prizes here, and we're not really about serious competition...so what's the big deal if we lose? Isn't really all that much, get right down to it.
The more I play Guild Wars the more I appreciate the depth of the game. I'm now in an area of the world that's largely based around undead...and they are NO joke. The good part is that being a monk class, most of the smiting abilities do double damage to undead...so I got that going for me, which is nice.
Tonight, UO_Stanjel, and a good night's sleep. No 2am for me. Not three nights in a row, thanks.
By the way, I haven't sold a shirt at Limewear for a few months. Buy one. Buy several.
Mood: Tired.
Music: Down Under, Men at Work
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars
Book: America, Daily Show with John Stewart
Muffin: Strawberry-Sweet Plum
Punchline: Chainsaw juggling...without gloves.
For the first time in a long time, I don't have enough time to play all the games I want to play. I mean, I never have enough gaming time...but usually, it has to do with me playing one game, and I want to play more of it.
Tonight, when I really would like to be exploring the new continent I've fought my way to in Guild Wars, I have a scheduled guild event in World of Warcraft...and I have a match in Call of Duty tomorrow night for a map (UO_Stanjel) that I know OK...but not enough to win a match on.
I guess I'll be spending a few hours in World of Warcraft, then jump over to Call of Duty to practice/warm up. Leaves Guild Wars by the wayside tonight, which is a drag, because I was really really getting into the flow of things there.
Also left unplayed for the last few weeks: Jade Empires, anything on my PSP, Brothers in Arms...too many...and I just got an invite to the beta for Star Wars Galaxies Episode III.
I have to admit that this is a nice change of pace from a few months ago, when I was dying for a new diversion.
Anyway, I went to bed last night at 2am...because CB and I were trying to get through to this new city...which we managed to do after some seriously good playing by him, and me helping.
Gonna need to take some time off soon to enjoy the gaming and weather while it lasts.
Mood: Monday...
Music: Things Can Only Get Better, Howard Jones
Game: World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Guild Wars
Book: America, Daily Show with John Stewart
Muffin: An Orange. Not a muffin.
Punchline: The great t-shirt hunt.
So I got in, did my normal morning routine, and I got a call from the nice people who will be printing/embroidering the uniforms for work. They wanted to know if I got the samples for sizing I ordered...I should have gotten them on Friday.
Well...no...I hadn't. She was a bit put off, and said she'd call me back.
She calls me back a few minutes later and said that it was signed by someone named M McFarlane.
McFarlane...name's familiar...but there's no one here by that name.
Then she says "Well, I sent it to..." and proceeds to name my old home address.
"You sent it WHERE?"
She repeats the address, then I have to explain that that's my old business address for Limewear, and that she's just sent it to someone else.
"Why did McFarlane or whoever sign for it?"
I then explain that that building gets two handtrucks full of packages from FedEx a day...and the concierge signs for all of them for the occupants. She's now a bit upset.
I tell her not to worry about it...I'll find my way down there, and see if I can recover the stuff. Now, the stuff was delivered Friday, and by any reasonable standard, the package was probably delivered to the current occupant of my old apartment. That'd be bad.
So me and Adam leave work and subway it down to my old place, and I explain to the doorman that there's been a mixup, and a supplier sent something meant for me to my old apartment, although with my name on it.
Sure enough, he has a package with my company's name on it with my old address. He asks me to write my name, address, and phone number on a piece of paper so he has record of it, whereupon I hand him my business card with my name and company name on it which matches the package, which made him pretty happy. And I was happy that for some reason, the occupant of my apartment didn't manage to pick up that package, and had all weekend to do so. Not a bad result, really.
And seeing as we were downtown ANYWAY...of course we had lunch at Hop Kee in Chinatown. Because how could we not?
So I get the sizing samples back to the office, and the sweatshirts are the wrong style, being 50/50 instead of 100% cotton, and the choice I made for the polo shirts are apparently too thin. Oh, and they didn't really like the color that I chose for the Tshirts.
Great.
So not only did I have to run around the city for 2 hours to recover the samples...but I needed to explain to the nice lady at the printing company the good news and bad news: That I recovered the samples, but a third of them were wrong, a third of them I'm going to need to change, and a third of them are OK...maybe. Lovely. So, I suppose I'll get quotes and samples in the next day or so, hopefully to the right address this time.
Well, it certainly broke up the day nicely.
So I got that going for me...which is nice.