Wisdom of the Ancients

So I'm probably going to have to change the "thirty-something" in this blog's banner and replace it with a new number in a couple of months.

My Mom is freaking out about more than I am, so that's, er, well I'm not sure what that is. I feel immature.

I noticed lately that time has been doing it's ravaging thing. It started with the ski trip in February. I already reported that things were broken, I ain't as young as I used to be etc ad nauseum but there was also something from that trip that turned out a bit odd.

Now since I was with the "young 'uns", most of them posted pictures on Facebook. The pictures of me seemed to have something wrong with the colour, or light or something but in almost all of them there was a yellow tinge in my face around the cheeks.

I first thought it was just something to do with the photos. Then I noticed that once in a while there was a hint of yellow in my features when viewing my mug in a mirror. I then put it down to the ravages of tobacco consumption and started to scrub a bit harder in the mornings. It was still there.

Now understand that as rule I am not fond of the medical profession. There is a history with myself and with my family of being victims of medical malpractice, usually involving major surgery. Two years ago there was the whole strep throat debacle, but that was the latest in a long string of medical practitioners who frankly need more practice (but not on me thank you very much).

I tend to self diagnose. The internet is wonderful for that. And most of the time I'm dead on. That was probably the wrong choice of words.

Anyways, I believe I 1) am a bit anemic and B) probably have a touch of scurvy. Sounds ridiculous but all the symptoms point to it. Lack of energy, receding gums, yellowing of skin, lack of energy, cts taking a long time to heal etc. Yes, I hear you say "a pack a day may have something to do with that Moby" and you're right, but like most things there isn't just one cause.

I'm not the best cook in the world. I'm not the worst cook in the world. To qualify for either category one must actually cook and therefore I'm disqualified. I've always had to be careful of my diet because of my wonderfully dysfunctional stomach (I get heartburn looking at a Caesar salad) and that may have been part of the issue. So I'm branching out in the culinary department a bit more.

I've attempted to balance my diet a bit: granola vs Fruit Loops, eating actual fruit (again, not Fruit Loops), stopping my Wine Gum addiction, taking a multi-vitamin and iron supplement (for the anemia) etc. This has been going on for a week and I'm starting to feel better already. Admittedly, I'm just getting over a two-week-and-counting cold and busted ribs but I'm taking it as a good sign.

Yeah, the smoking thing is going be around for a while though, sorry. I don't want to be so healthy that I make myself sick.

Half Way Between

One week after giving notice, one week before the new job means I'm halfway to out. For anyone who has recently quit a job, the "interim" between the two manifests some odd behaviours.

There's the melancholy that occurs as you realize probably won't see most of the people you spent half your waking hours with ever again. Not that they are bad people but life tends to work that way.

There's the sheer joy that soon, you won't have to deal with this person or that situation.

There's the impulse to slack off and just mark time because in a very short while, it won't matter anymore. Then there is the (hopefully) accompanying work ethic drive to do it right (whatever "it" is) and to leave with good last impression.

There's the uncertainty that you may have made the wrong move, and the certainty that you have done the best thing for yourself. These can, and often, occur at the exact same time.

There's the heartfelt congratulatory regards, usually accompanied by a sadness to see you go. Then there are others who have already dialed you out of their reality.

Then there's all the bloody forms to fill out....

A Lazy Weekend

Well, not really. Just the first one where the schedule wasn't booked to overflowing. I managed to unpack the last of the boxes, do laundry, clean the place, wash the car, get a haircut, drop off the dry-cleaning and all those other sundry chores that I've been neglecting for the last month.

Surprisingly I found that relaxing.

I'm feeling much more at home here than at the last place. The final touch is when I violate the terms of my lease and hammer nails into walls to put up pictures. Sometimes the pace just fits you.

And I've usually called home "The Fortress of Solitude" but I'm thinking it'll just be "The Roost". I have a great view of the south of the city and all the drug deals going on in the fast-food joint's parking lot. As long as they are quiet deals I don't mind terribly.

So new place, new job. Next: new girlfriend.

Actually, forget it, I just wanna relax a bit....

Step One: New Apartment. Step Two: New Job

Yup, new place of employment. But since technically this is an anonymous blog, I won't say where, but will say it's the same place (and same building and floor) as Capa. And many thanks to him for recommending me for the job despite all obvious and plentiful evidence to the contrary.

I'm excited about the new job, but resigning the current job kinda sucked. It's not even close to being as, well, mind-numbingly frustrating as the previous one. A very significant part of me is sad to see me go. I built up a team of great folks and despite one project from hell, was doing pretty well.

But the new job gets me out of lower-middle management and puts me back into cutting code. It's a senior position so there will naturally be some of the shenanigans that happen in any hierarchy, but it should be localized.

I get to cut code again!

Just (Another) One of Those Days

Fargin' Blargin'.

Two and half hours OT at work tonight because I needed to install an emergency patch to some software I didn't know we had. Super-duper rush on it for various reasons, but as usual it only affected one person (a VP granted but still). And even after that it didn't fix the problem. So back at it again tomorrow. Grumble.

It's a Microsoft Product so it shouldn't have come as a surprise.

Normally, this is part of the everyday in the glamorous world of Information technology. the timing is just off, that's all. Since I spent the weekend in Medicine Hat I didn't get a chance to do things like grocery shop or do laundry. Or actually relax as this was supposed to be the first weekend in about a month where I wasn't packing, moving, cleaning, unpacking or otherwise occupied.

And i can feel a monster cold coming on. Sigh. Or should I say, "digh". Eesh.

But! maybe the good news I've been hinting at will come through on the morrow. It will mean a period of, well, let's just say to get the good I gotta dish out some bad which will suck. All for a good cause though.

I'm off to chug a gallon of orange juice as I believe I have a borderline case of scurvy. Seriously, I think I'm playing too many pirate-themed games lately.

Update: Oh yeah, I have a cold of epic proportions. Gah...sniff

More Random Encounters

The old place is clean! Well, it's at the point where I frankly lost interest in scrubbing. Only one place I've ever rented at actually was fair about returning the damage deposit, and trust me if these guys do the inspection they way they rent apartments (get money, spend none of it) I can probably kiss the deposit good-bye.

On to random encounters. The coffee shop I frequent at lunch is kinda of a old hippy place. Organic three bean salad, recycled paper cups the whole works. Consequently there is a large population of old hippies. Now that's a generation I generally consider to be "ineffective" at this stage of it's life (previous stages being "arrogant", "hypocritical" and "greedy beyond belief").

Since I'm in there nearly every day, I've learned that these folks stand at the food displays they hum and haw, trying to decide between the whole-grain macaroni and macro-biotic cheese and the organically-grown vegetable salad. This can take forever. So when I see this awesome display of total indecision, I jump ahead to the actual line up of people who know what they want ends.

Yesterday at lunch, this situation did indeed occur. There was a couple doing exactly that: waffling about what they wanted. Fortunately (or at least I thought at the time) there was nobody at the till ordering so I naturally went up and ordered my americano.

It was while I was waiting for my brew that I heard someone talking awfully loud at a tome that indicated righteous indignation. I then realized that they were talking to me.

Apparently there was someone standing behind the pair of former hippies. She gave me a little lecture that, in summary, said I was rude for cutting into line. I told here that I didn't see a line, only people deciding what they wanted. She really didn't like that answer. She went on but my coffee was ready so I switched her off.

Now I fully admit that technically I cut in line. But since the line started about ten feet away from where you actually order, I see it as a line in potentia and not a manifest queue. Sure, I felt a little guilty, but that's mitigated by the look of smug, self-righteous, self-satisfaction on the defender social order's face.

So I was totally surprised when a similar situation happened again. This time, it was by a solitary granoloid who happened to be standing right in the frickin' doorway. I had to actually gently move her aside so I could enter the coffee shop. Again, nobody at the counter, just the cute girl who has a smile perfect for starting the day with. I ordered my extra-large medium and proceeded to make my way outside.

The door-stop with the hemp sweater then gave me hell for cutting in front of her. She was barely even in the place to even be in a line. So I just didn't register her existence (I hadn't had my first cup of coffee after all) and walked out.

Apparently I'm a rude boy. Maybe the days of having women tell me I'm "too nice" is over? Doubt it.

Seriously, I consider people who are generally inconsiderate to be, well, inconsiderate. Butting in line is rude, yes, but those who hold up others because they don't know what they want but showed first. Certainly a grey area, but I have no patience for those who think showing up is all they need to do. And they giving flak to those who show up, do what they need to do and move on?

Bark away, folks, I'm too busy getting things done. And sometimes I need coffee to do it.

Back Online

Third time I've moved in two years, third time my able internet provider screwed up the damn transfer. Three days, no toobs. And of course I have all this stuff I have to do which is so much easier online.

I mean, why leave the house?

And to think I worked for them for eight years. I'm gone eight months and it all goes to pot. Oh wait, it was already there.

Speaking of which, well, I ain't gonna tell ya but I may have good news. I may also have no news since it's that kind of event but I'm all nothing kinda guy and since I can't have it all....

That's about it really. I'm alive, getting some rest, back at the gym, putting off cleaning, geeking out with my minions tomorrow (board games as a "team building exercise") and generally settling into the new digs.

And if the smell of cow shit is an indication, Spring is here!

Settling In, Settling Down

The move be almost finished. The only things left at the old place are my propane tank and the cleaning supplies. I hope I also left the AC adapter to my speakers and my mic headset as those are not where I thought I put them. I think the box may have opened and either they fell out (and the movers put them in the trash or something) or they were just taken as a "bonus".

The only other casualty was my laundry hamper. Those are cheap and plentiful.

So I'm quite happy with the move. It was quiet on a long-weekend Saturday night so that's the ultimate test passed. The living room is smaller but the trade off is the double-size storage area, a kitchen you can turn around in without hitting something and a view of the city instead of the parking garage. All for $185 a month less. Oh yeah and the gym with the bikini models. Some things you can't put a price on.

Moves are always times when you reassess your stuff. My stuff is, like their owner, getting old, banged up and dilapidatd (the gym will help the owner in that regard). I'm tempted to replace the whole shebang but that can get a tad expensive and I have a new computer to buy in the next couple of months (no, not a Mac Capa). Spore has an official date, I keep hearing rave reviews about Sins of a Solar Empire and, well not much else at the moment but that's at least something.

There may be other changes afoot but I don't want to jinx it. Let's just say there may be a second of the "life changing events" coming up.

And no, a new woman in my life is the third one. But then again, I could go hit the treadmill....

Get Me Gone

Well tomorrow is my final day of packing, then I'm outta here! And into a slight variation of "here" costing me about a paycheck but gaining me a good night's sleep so it seems fair all in all.

I'm actually surprised at the dearth (look it up) of crap I have this time around. Oh sure, there's three cubic meteres of Lego, the ten boxes of books and the surpisingly high number of towels I seem to have but they all have their uses and frankly I can't part with any of them. Well, maybe the towels that don't have edges and the odd bleach stain.

As payment for letting him use my vehicle for nefarious purposes (I hope he obscured the license plate) L'il Bro G helped memove in some of the stuff like plants and CDs into the place and commented he liked it better than my current place even though it's bigger. The current place not the new one. I tend to agree and not just because of the reduced noise factor. I tend to get a good "vibe" (or bad one) from an apartment and it's served me in good stead in the past. But because I'm me I tend to distrust those little intuitions and end up making bad decisions. This also extends to things like CD purchases, cars, jobs and girlfriends So I guess the point I'm trying to get at is that I'm going to trust my instincts a bit more.

For example I need to do some work tonight for an appointment I have tomorrow but I am disinclined to do so as I am still stoned from the over-consumption of back-pain medicine taken for my broken (yes I broke it) rib. But my instincts tell me that shrugging this off is a bad idea. Failure to do so will cause me short-term embarrassment and long-term "you fucked up your life"-edness.

But that could also be the drugs talking so who the hell knows?

That Movin' Groove

Sorry for the lack of update, this one has been busy.

Last weekend, I went skiing with the Social Club at work. Well I say work, but there were about a dozen folks who actually work there who went along about 15 of their friends each. Since these were younger folks, I'd say I was the oldest one there, by about 15 years.

The bus ride up Friday was a drink-fest and I manged to keep up with the young 'uns by downing most of a twenty-six of Stoli. However my "maturity" was evident when they all got up at 7 AM to hit the slopes and I felt like the slope hit me. This would be a theme for the weekend.

It was my first time out this season and frankly my first day was a good imitation of "Bambi": unsteady, moving slow and slipping alot. But fun was had although I did most of the day solo. That's one of things I like about skiing. You can have fun while swooshing on your own. By the end of the day my legs were cramped, which attribute to the hangover more than anything. I think the running from the last few months helped the ol' musculature because the next morning I was in any pain at all.

That night I braked the imbibing a bit. I did get to know my chalet-mates a bit better (pics on my Facebook page) and there's was general merriment. The effect was spoiled by three of the guys I was roomed up with: the Russian Mafia. Never had I been in such close proximity of boys who's egos outstripped their obvious immaturity by so much. I think it goes a long way to explaining why there is such a large amount of womentrying to find husbands outside the former Soviet.

Sunday skiing was better. I was actually able to keep my knees together on occassion and did some one-diamond black runs (no moguls, thank the gods). just before lunch though I had a bit of a fall. Somehow, I turned my velocity into a rotational velocity with my feet as the pivot point. I went down hard on my right size. Fortunatly the ski pole was between me and the patch of ice I hit. I'd say I had bent the pole about, oh, sixty degrees and got a nice impression of my rib cage on it. While I don't think I cracked a rib I still can't sleep on that side. I had forgotten what getting the wind knocked out of you feels like.

I called it a day after that and took pictures.

Today I'm packing up. In one week I go to my smaller and cheaper place. I picked up the keys last week and sort of planned out where I'm going to put stuff. It's going to be a tad crowdd but the storage room is about twice the size I have now so That will help out greatly. The best thing is I went over at about ten PM one night just to listen to what kind of noise I can expect.

Silent as the grave!

The next few days are packing and some preliminary moving. I've engaged movers for next Saturday but since they get paid by the hour I'm moving stuff in a bit at a time. With any luck (and Thursday off) I can get all the boxes over there. It's a faint hope as lifting things right now after my little spill is a tad painful, but I should get the lighter stuff over. I'll save the books for the paid help. The only worry is that when i call to confirm they will have "lost" the reservation as it is actually a long weekend next week.

Okay spell checker is shot, pardon the plethora of typos and poor grammar.

Happy 50!

I can't let the day go by without mentioning it's the 50th anniversary of your favorite toy and mine, Lego! Even Google did a tribute with a Lego-themed logo.

Gotta love the brick! Although it's tough moving when you have about two cubic meters of the stuff....

(Un)Predictable

Lessee, what to kvetch about today? Well how about these guys?

If you look at this the day of the posting you can see that a very cold front is moving in today (Sunday). Yesterday, they said it was coming in Monday, on Thursday they said it was coming in Tuesday. And each day they "expanded" how long it's going to stick around by a day.

Now I know weather is a real chaotic system. It's hard to predict exactly what's going to happen with a real degree of accuracy. But the pattern described above is pretty consistent with these guys. Cold fronts move in faster and stay longer than these guys say almost every time. There's a part of me that wonders if it's actually an attempt to grab ratings. People don't like bad news and of course shy away when they don't like what they hear. For me, I'd rather get the "unspun" forecast if this is the case. I'm already in the habit of plugging the car in two days before the predict deep-freeze because of this.

Anyway, everyone complains about the weather around here, so in this case I'm just a single voice in the crowd, muffled by a scarf. I just hope the chill lets up a bit by next weekend: skiing in -30 in not my idea of fun. However there are hottubs and apparently a 2:1 female to male ratio going on this trip.

Every cloud has a silver lining?

Withdrawl

It's odd, but lately I've had the urge to renew my World of Warcraft subscription.

It's odd because at first, it was a huge hit with me. Sometime around level thirty I realized a couple of things:

• I had being doing basically the same thing over and over again
• The only way to customize my character was to get "uber-lewtz"
• 90% of the people I was playing with online were ass-hats

I'm still of course playing games, but since my nVidia card went to Silicon Heaven, it's been on my DS (Puzzle Quest) and my laptop (Sword of the Stars). But something is missing. I'm not 100% sure what: it may be the adrenaline rush of FPS combat, the rich and fantastic worlds offered online or the god-like power of an RTS.

That or I'm bored. Or I'm getting old.

With the writer's strike there's never anything all that good on TV (or at least the channels I can afford). So the cable is getting disconnected. With the fried board, I haven't been gaming nearly as much. I have been going to the gym on a pretty regular schedule, and am a quarter of a mile away from running five-k a session, despite the pack-a-day habit.

Dear gods, I can't actually be growing up can I?

Nah. Why else would I have all that Lego?

Embarrassment in my Pants

While I was doing laundry tonight I noticed something about my comfortable jeans.

Almost everyone has at least a pair of these. You know, the jeans that have frayed cuffs, worn knees, paint stains, bleach marks and in my case a huge hole in the back pocket where my cheap wallet has worn through. They're comfortable, lived in, good and trusted friends.

So while sorting through the washing I noticed something pretty dreadful. At some point I had worn a hole in the inseam just below the crotch. Naturally my first reaction was something on the lines of yeah baby! But it quickly dawned on me that the said worn-patch in the fabric was not from anything I could be proud of.

In fact...it was caused by my thighs rubbing together when I walked. This is embarrassing enough. But when the cute girl folding her laundry beside me saw this and realized the cause at the same moment as I did and she giggled I was mortified.

I gotta go check all my pants and learn how to sew re-enforcements in my remaining pants. And go run about 25k at the gym. And get diet pills. And then move to a remote cabin in the wilderness.

Gah...

The Theory

L'l Bro B may have hit upon why my next door neighbor has rage management issues: 'Roid Rage.

It makes perfect sense. Explosive outbursts manifested in violent action, seething rage and (possibly) domestic violence. When B mentioned the possibility, it "clicked".

I never understood the whole 'roid thing. That is I understand why guys want to get big 'n' strong but the stupid lengths they go to. Mind you that goes for plastic surgery, bulimia, excessive wardrobe dysfunction etc. Vanity, pure and simple.

Besides the mantra of "leaving a pretty corpse" doesn't make much sense if along the way you ensure nobody attends the funeral.

Post-It

Well it's already the ninth and I've only posted one entry this year so here's one just for filler. I did manage to get the new place. I shouldn't worry about these things - I have good credit, good references and a steady job - but I always get a tinge of anxiety when I apply for stuff like this. Maybe it's a fear of rejection but I like to think it's my past experiences with paper work.

For example a while back our HR department informed me that I had been paying Alberta Health Care at the family rate instead of the single rate so there we going to give me back the difference. Last week I was informed from the same HR department that they received notice that from AHC that I had not paid for AHC since my departure from my previous job, so I owed them money. I'm now arguing with HR that while I did owe two months' worth the payments for the past six have have been deducted from my pay and obviously not forwarded to said government agency.

This is not the first time this has happened.

Back in university, part of tuition was supposedly going to the government to cover these health premiums. So I was surprised when I received a notice that I owed five years in back premiums. Over the course of six months I attempted to get the University to show it's payment records (which they said they had) to the AHC. They both said it's not their respective problem, it's yours so pay up now. Due to the fact I was a student all those years and had little to no income I did manage to reduce the amount owed to about $2500 which I had to eventually pay. Needless to say anyone from my alma matter who asks me to donate as an alumnus get the cold shoulder.

I'm moving in the middle of next month and due to having five weeks notice actually managed to get movers on a Saturday. This will cost me somewhere around $400 but I'll consider it money well spent. Although I do appreciate their help, my friends tend to get severely injured when helping me move. I consider it taking one for the team.

And I was sick today. I woke up with a slightly sore throat but by the time I did the ritual 3S (shower, shit, shave) routine it felt like someone was ramming low-grade sandpaper down my esophagus with splinter-handled plunger. I was going to email a notice to my boss that I was sick, but when I opened my web mail, I notice several panicked messages regarding that project I keep whinging about. So I went to work, determined that the problems were: 1) I had made an assumption that someone had done some due diligence and 2) apparently I didn't yell loudly enough that having someone fiddle with databases who thinks it works just like "Microsoft Money" is a bad idea. So after breathing heavily on several people I went home and slept. It was surprisingly quiet after all my whining about the noise and it may me reconsider the possibility that I'm just being too sensitive.

The idiot next door who is repeatedly slamming his closet door open and shut puts that to rest at least.

On the Road Again

As promised (threatened, whatever) I'm moving again. I put an application on a new apartment at noon today: seventh floor, concrete building.

So in addition some peace ad/or quiet, I'm actually going to be saving a good chunk of change:

• Rent, including parking, is going from $1250 to $1175. Plus I'll get secured underground parking instead of the open lot with no lights I have now.
• Power and cable is included, so that's another $90 a month in bills gone.
• The new place has a pretty decent gym, so I can drop my $50 a month membership at the one I go to now.

So lessee, that's $215 a month less than the place I'm in now, or $2580 a year. Plus it's quiet (or it least it can't be worse than where I am now. Plus the new place a has a huge balcony.

Unlike last time, I really only looked at the one place. Now normally that sounds stupid, but it was a place that was in competition with the current dive. it lost only because the layout was a bit odd and a tad smaller than where I am now. However right now I have quite a bit of space that's going to waste (my TV stand is about 6 feet from the wall). The storage is better at the new place as well: there is some.

It sounds like I'm trying to convince myself that this is a good idea doesn't it? Trust me, it is. Did I tell you about my neighbor across the hall's new baby? The one with colic?

This time around I'm hiring movers. granted I'm paying two rents for February but I'll get that back with the projected savings. However I'm sure the folks who helped me move last time would be more than willing to do the beer and food thing afterwards even if they don't do any back-straining, leg-breaking work.

I haven't had a decent night's sleep in five months. It's kind of scary really. I go to bed at night actually tensing in anticipation of the nocturnal cacophony that has categorized my tenancy here. That is not conducive to a restful slumber. See? I'm so excited I'm bringing out the $2 words! All I need to do now is just survive the next six weeks or so. A ski trip and a blind date over the next while may or may not help that. At least there's the potential that I'll actually be sleeping somewhere else with those.

And yes the gym has been busy since New year's but not as bad as I thought. Maybe people just gave up on trying? However there is new eye candy, which I would miss except that the new place houses swimsuit models who work out there. Okay, why did I not move there in the first place again? Sheesh...

Nooo Yar!

Ah we about to roll into '08. The twenty-first century is well on it's way and still no flying car! Maybe next year.

Much like Capa I'm not making any resolutions this year. I already started running (and lost twelve pounds and probably converted some more from fat to muscle) this year. that's about all I need really. Of course with the thousands making resolutions to start working out the gym is going to be a friggin' zoo for the next six weeks but I'll cope. New eye-candy after all...

However, I do have to get the hell outta dodge when my lease is up. It'll be worth the $2000 I'll have to spend (extra month's rent and moving expenses) to get a decent night's sleep. It's not so much a resolution as an act of a desperate sleep-deprived man.

So tonight it's myself, a take-away Pepper Beef bowl, a bottle of Stoli and the new director's cuts of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (and of course, the Geek) and my all-time favorite, Blade Runner - The Final Cut.

And because I'm single, maybe spend the Christmas money Grandma gave me on (NSFW) something special for my own self.

Thanks Grandma!

Addendum: The new smoking law goes into effect as of midnight. This basically means that yo can't smoke within 5 meters of a door (before it was three). Also it tchnically means that I can't smoke on my balcony (at least as I read it, IANAL) as it is less than five meters from my door. So if any of the 60+ year old bylaw enforcement officers can actually climb up four stories to hand me the ticket I'll pay it.

Sock it to Me!

Well, the whole Christmas show is over and I have plenty of socks. No shock, I guess but overall it was nice but it is also over which is just as good. I ate far too much bad food, relaxed with the family and generally am looking forward to a couple of days on my oddy-knocky.

One surprising event was the dreaded annual Trivial Pursuit game. Most years, it's just something that has to be borne before I could haul my grumbling stomach back to the fold-out couch and snack on Tums all night. This year was quite different it sems. As stated previously the L'il Bros with both there and we turned it into a total trash-talking festival. My Mon and Step-Dad burst a gut, as well as some of the guests who weren't quite sure what to make of it at first but soon got into the mood, or rather, pulled themselves down to our level. It was actually quite enjoyable.

As stated, it's over. Now it's just figuring out what to do with myself over the next few days. I need two new pairs of shoes, my dry-cleaning and I haven't seen my Comic Book Guy in a few weeks. Add going to the gym and you have a pretty dull week (okay, three days really) planned.

Love it!

Gonna Party Like it's 1999

Well, maybe. We'll see how New Year's Eve turns out.

But before that of course is Mid-Winter Holiday Celebration Period formally known as Christmas. I fully admit I Grinched on the whole gift thing this year but I did tell everyone that all that is required for me is a card (and no, not a new video card).

This year it will be Little Bro's G 'n' B down in Lethbridge visiting Mama-San. First time in a few years all three have been in the same province at this time of year so that's cool. And Mom is thrilled silly, natch.

Random stuff. I watched 10 last night on BRAVO! a.k.a. peasant porno. I will fully admit I was drawn to it as I was flipping channels and just happened across a large amount of skin on my new hi-def television screen. I had never seen it before and I was quite surprised it was actually funny.

I also got to thinking that if they made this movie today there would be Christian Right-Wing "Won't Someone Think of the Children" Jihad. There lots of nudity, couples with open relationships, swingers and conspicuous consumption of "grass". The term seems so archaic now, but anyways. We are living in much different times than twenty years ago. And to our detriment I think.

Finally got my copy of "Sword of the Stars". Love that game! Spent my entire day playing it, despite the laundry, shopping, cleaning and sundry chores I have to do, but that's what time off is for. For me at any rate. So the only thing I'm expecting in the mail is my new passport, which I fully intend to use come February. If I'm not moving.

Other Randomness. I'm being "set-up" for a not-a-blind-date. You know, where you "the victim" get invited out to something with a group of people to include "the other victim". This all started as a friend of mine met this girl through an acquaintance. There was much girl talk and the subject came around to finding a nice, honest, quiet guy who doesn't want to party all the time and keeps himself to himself. A description I grudgingly fit well. It got me thinking that it is hard to meet guys like that for the pretty obvious reason they (okay, we) don't get out much. It's pretty close to "Why Can't I Meet a Nice Guy?" to which my answer is my "You do everyday but you aren't attracted to nice guys" rant. There's a legit reasoning that if you want to meet a quiet guy you really have to pay attention.

Still, would be nice if I had a picture....

Well, I have to get packing to go to the Calorie Intake Extravaganza known as Mom's place. You all have yourself a good Christmas (or other holiday, you know who you are). I'll whine, rant and occasionally have something poignant to say before the new year.

Well, two outta three anyways.

... Before the Storm

Aaaand that didn't last long. The needle on the Stupidex at work got buried again.

Why, oh why do people let things get the crisis point before bloody well telling someone about it. Lack of planning on your part yadd yadda yadda.

I need a beach and vodka. Instead I'll go to the gym, come home and drink vodka.

Strange Calm

This is going to sound weird, but I've actually had a couple of good days at work. Now some may invoke the old chestnut of "holiday spirit" as a reason to which I reply "exorcism". It's been slightly less nuts this week so I've had a chance to put a major dent in the task list, explain reality to a few folks who were obviously listening and in general get shit done.

Morale has improved remarkably.

And speaking of the holiday, by now I have usually put aside the bah, humbug mentality this close to Christmas but it seems not this year. I'm waiting for the days off in great anticipation but the actual event of Christmas I don't give a curdled eggnog about. Not that this is a bad thing (for me at any rate) but it does mean the normally low tolerance for carols, mistletoe and other sundries is reading zero on the "Fest-O-Meter". That actually sounds like I'm negative but the reality is very much a sense of indifference. Maybe I'm just old.

And until this moment I didn't make the connection that New Year's Eve is hot on the heels of the Yuletide.

It's entirely possible that my brain turned Buddhist without telling me.

Another One Bites the Dust

Another old friend has passed away: my graphics card on my main computer.

Actually friend may be a bit strong. I picked it up nVidia 7400 (or something) because my old nVidia 4200 (or something) just wasn't up to snuff for a game I wanted to play (Battlefield 2142). It was one of those "suspect" brands that one never hears of. Now normally when I build or upgrade my machine, I get the good stuff, top of the line. This issue was my motherboard doesn't handle PCIE cards and this was the only AGP card out there that had the guts required for the newer games.

By a stroke of luck (and after I had a stroke) I found my old video card. Thank gods I'm a pack-rat. But the new one is toast.

Now my rig is over three years old, the motherboard and CPU at any rate. It's time for a brand new machine. But I always need that one motivator, that one piece of software, that game that makes me build a new pulsing powerhouse of geeky potency.

There's nothing out there now that makes me want to do that. Seriously. The one game that I have on order (and have been waiting for for six weeks) is Sword of the Stars and it's expansion, which runs just peachy on my laptop.

So I'm going to hold off a bit. I will pick up a juicy external hard drive to dump all my files in just in case it's the motherboard going south but I'll hold off on the new rig for a while.

Maybe something like this....

Mind you, I may have the card still under warantee: I seem to recall being in a good mood and buying the extended one....

Sleepy Time

Now this may sound a bit odd, but you're here, so you should have at least some expectation of the possibility.

When I wake up, I have always had the feeling that time had elapsed whilst I slumbered. Regardless of how much time I had been asleep, when I wake up there's a part of me that knows somehow that time was passing I was sleeping.

This week was different for some reason. When I woke up, I felt like I just blinked instead of snored for seven hours. My body, my mind, whatever had no sensation of time having been passed. It's disturbing in a couple of subtle ways. For one, now I'm not sure what is normal. What do other people feel when they wake up? The visceral knowledge of passed time or the instant time-shift from last night to this morning?

In trying to draw a parallel here, the best I could come up with is: imagine you woke up one morning and discovered that you were right-handed. When you went to bed last night, and every previous night of your life, you were left handed. The shift from south-paw to rightie is perfectly perfect; your newly dominant hand feels exactly right (pun intended). But your mind is screaming something different; you have always been right-handed but you know it should be the other way around. That's kind of what I've been feeling like but maybe not to that extreme.

Creepy, with just a hint of nightmare.

Days Off

I've taken today (Monday) and tomorrow off using some of the banked time from the death march, so naturellment I'm sick. Only myself to blame I suppose, L'il Bro B and I got completely inebriated Friday night. You know you're getting old when you get a two day hangover from ten screwdrivers. And a couple of shots of tequila, even if it was the good stuff.

So really today and tomorrow is my weekend, running around doing all that stuff I should have been doing as I lay groaning on the couch.

Whilst lying down with all the lights off, I did get a chance to think about the whole career thing. Of course (see the next to last post) I am a bit bitter about this business. It seems like programming, when you're a corporate developer (build software for internal customers) as opposed to a product developer (build software to sell) really is a no-win situation at most times. I'm wondering if that's a product of the whole "sufficiently advanced technology seems like magic" thing.

Now the above mis-quote always implies a bunch of illiterate tribesmen oo-ing and ah-ing at something like a toaster or a flashlight. I'm beginning to think that this actually applies quite well to modern, urban technological society.

Take your car for example. While some could tinker with an old-style engine, very few could get their head around modern cars. And let's face it, most people turn the key and when it goes "vroom" you're good to go. There's very little comprehension on what exactly that key starts: most people could never figure out what's happening under the hood.

Computers of course, are even bigger ju-ju.

When a person turns on the computer, it really does seem like magic. Words, images sounds, music all happen with no clue as to how it actually happens. Big magic. I could explain some of it (more than most at any rate) but at its heart it's one big magic box.

So people see a computer as the product of the arcane. Maybe not in those words, but if you work in the industry you see the borderline fear and discomfort many people have for computers. As long as they work, they are safe but as soon as something (almost anything) goes wrong there's a general throwing up and wringing of hands (interesting image). The folks like me are called to perform their rituals (as long as the ritual of ctrl-alt-del is invoked). The techs are the grand high wizards and exorcists of digital demons really.

Now take into account all the stories you heard growing up: Aladdin, Merlin, any and all wicked witches in any Disney movie. There are themes that run through almost all of these stories:

1. Magic happens at a snap of the fingers.
2. all magic is inherently dangerous.
3. the practitioners are at best shady characters and at worst outright evil.

It makes me wonder, in the gestalt of the societal mind, if computers and those that actually work with them are at some level just distrusted. On the one hand you have people making demands of the geeks as if they wave their magic wands (or probably their enchanted keyboards) and stuff just happens with an instant miracle. On the other, if a tech says it's not possible or that it "doesn't work like that", there's a reaction that speaks more to distrust rather than an acknowledgment of expertise. As if they think we're holding something back or we have a nefarious scheme to kidnap the princess. Which has an appeal but royalty tends to be high maintenance and have expensive tastes: most geeks don't get paid that much.

Techno-philosophical food for thought at any rate.

I Scare Myself

Umm, okay, wow. That last post down there? That's over the top, even for me.

Maybe, just maybe, it's time to consider if I'm at the right job. I like coding, I like databases, I like coding databases, but being responsible is just too much responsibility.

And I think I'm on the no-fly list so I can't work with Capa. They never return my calls....

It's Called "Post Mortem" for a Reason

Today, after the death march, we had the post-mortem.

For those who think I'm referring to CSI, what actually happens is that when a project is done, all the people involved get together to go over what happened and figure out what went well, what could have gone better and what needs to be done in the future to do things well.

This sounds very productive: constructive criticism accompanied by a willingness to improve is a cornerstone to change. What actually happens is another matter.

While I've been to an occasional post-mortem that had to be broken up by the riot squad, they are the (surprisingly) exception rather than the rule. What normally happens is that the technical folks identify that they succeeded (except where obviously they didn't) in spite of the ridiculous timelines, nebulous and ever-changing requirements and dearth of tools which should be standard but are actually not in the budget.

And of course the people who set the timelines, requirements and budgets are present. It's always a laugh when they get defensive and try to justify their short-sightedness and sundry other petty politics and stupidity with the following standard come-backs:

1. We Need to be Competitive: This usually means that the competition did "it" already and we are just following along, despite the fact that the competition has probably working on "it" for the past couple of years.
   
2. Our Goals Were Well Defined: while this may be true, it is only so in a narrow sense. The goal is to make money by spending none of it and investing the lives of our minions is cheaper than actually planning something. That would be extraneous to the goal and waste of everyones time as the actual requirements will change at a rate that could power a small community for a decade. Besides, they get the bonuses while the techs are denied holidays because of operational requirements.
   
3. It's Part of our Corporate Vision: Same as the above, really, but the boss's boss gets the bonus. the same executive who got shit-faced at a conference or other public event and "announced" the product to the press and gave a definitive deadline. All because he read something about in the in-flight magazine.
   
4. Our Success is Measured at the Corporate Level, not the Individual Level: If that was true I'd be making the same salary and bonuses as the VP of marketing. next.
   
5. It's a Team Effort: One I'm starting to despise as it sounds more and more like the people in charge are putting a fix in.
   
6. What Happened to the IT Work Ethic?: First off, the slaving-at-a-keyboard for 80 hours a week burst with the Internet Dot Com bubble. Most programmers I know just see it as a job. Not to mention in those days the place you worked for provided for food, drink, shelter, recreation etc so their technical people had no reason to leave. When I don't have to pay for my coffee, we'll talk. Besides, while we were working late at night, the sponsor was being wined and dined at a mansion in Spain.
   
7. We Have an Entrepreneurial Spirit: Now I understand that there is a great amount of drive to succeed with a entrepreneurial initiative. Much of that derives from the fact that the very high risk with a high level of personal investment is accompanied by a possible very high reward. I earn a salary, so my reward is pretty damn low for the investment I'm being forced to make.

I could go on, but even I can only be so bitter (hard to believe I know). I still enjoy post-mortems as it's the only real opportunity to see men in $3000 suits look uncomfortable. And I get to make them feel that way. As for the career limiting move factor, I've mad more CLMs in a year than most people do in a lifetime. I consider it a "perk".

My God, It's Full of Pixels

Got the new TV. Niiiiiiice.....

Of course the first movie was The Incredibles and of course it looked fantastic. Once I figured out how to configure the DVD player to work with the TV.

Now, of course, is trying to figure out if I get a PS3 or X Box 360.

Dammit! I need more cash.

Just Breathe

Wow, it's done. The death march on our lovely piece of software is out the door. I'd like to say good riddance but there was a bunch of stuff we had to pull to make the deadline and our "sponsors" want it in by Christmas. However we'll be doing it my way. There are problems with the newly deployed system because of (approved) shortcuts that is taking up time.

It's done when it's done. Not to mention I have a very overworked team at the moment that really just want to coast until the holidays and I can't blame them. They're not used to this pace. I don't want them to get used to it. That of course means that the sponsors can't get used the pace. I've been using the term "unsustainable level of effort" quite a bit lately, so we'll see how that goes.

On the home front, well I haven't been home all that much. Yesterday was the first day in over six weeks I've done a top-to-bottom house cleaning. I have a pretty high tolerance for things getting ... disheveled but I have my limits.

I acquired a nice little Lego box that is just hint of things to come. Looks like my favorite toy company is waking up to the fact that they make toys, and not model kits.

I've also purchased, but have to receive, a pretty high end panel TV through work. A little pricey, so I'm thinking I need to cancel cable to afford it No great loss: I watch DVDs and my mind is loosening up a bit with the whole downloading thing. Software and music I will still buy: having worked in both industries, I know that there are some lame arguments involving the folks who actually make the music or software, but they hold true. Of course the record companies (and the MafIAAs) are fighting a losing battle but I have faith that straight economics and consumer backlash will change that up.

TV is a different matter though. I know, it's a double standard but the sheer amount of crap on the idiot box is astounding. Those few shows I enjoy have one or more of: random air time and date, late broadcast slot or cancelled after the first season. Seriously, BSG 3.0 should have been out a long while ago.... And the prices for boxed sets of other shows I want to watch cost more than a medium-quality DVD player.Don't these people want to make money off of me? C'mon, as a consumer I'll pony up some dough but we have to meet somewhere in the middle.

On the romantic front, I'm more inclined to get a dog than a girlfriend. No, not for that you friggin' pervs. I've had it with dating. Twenty years of serial monogamy with no result? Yup, time to hang 'em up. Take that last sentence as you will.

Anyways, I have to hit the gym (running routine to re-establish) and work for a couple of minutes. When I'm back, I'm going to look into this whole "torrent" thing.

It's Been a While

Hey folks, just checking in.

The last few weeks has been, shall we say, a mite? tad? touch? busy with the much-afore mentioned death march. This is being written mere minutes before I go back to work for the final push. It is my sincere hope that this really is the last weekend I work for a while, but that's my fight (and I hope I actually can win).

In the meantime, November sees three paycheques for myself. As I'm on a bi-weekly schedule for that good ol' envelope, this happens two months of the year. So I spent it! Well most of it anyways. In a week a pick up a new 32" plasma 1080p TV. I got a pretty good deal for a pretty high-end slab o' radiation.

This, of course, will be the thin end of the wedge. With the TV, I'll need to get a DVD player that matches. L'il bro B found one that does a great job of cleaning up the signal for regular DVDs for 1080p TVs. Looks amazing. Granted it's not a big deal if most of your viewing pleasure consists of cartoons but what the heck.

Then there's the who "next-gen" console possibility. I've been trying to decide if I should get a PS3 or the X-box 360. Now that the PS3 price has fallen a bit they can actually be compared. In my view there's no clear winner yet (and believe me I tried to pick one). It's a simple case of not enough software for each. Last time I had to chose I went with a PS2 instead of the original X-box. Now I don't regret the choice (having replaced the PS2 recently) but at the time, it looked like the PS2 was going to be all about sport games: all the "cool kids" were exclusive to X-box. So I'll be holding off for now. Guitar Hero is just as fun on the last gen as it is on the next gen.

Besides, I want to get a Wacom tablet.....

Post-Halloween Nostalgia

The day after Halloween. For myself (and the little bro's) it was probably more memorable than the costumes of the day before. You see, L'il Bro G had a completely different candy retention policy as did myself and L'il Bro B.

In times past, by now Li'l Bro B and I had scarfed down the more desirable treats, leaving only the remnants of such things as raisins and sunflower seeds. With stomachs heaving we would be satiated.

For about twenty-four hours.

Li'l Bro G on the other hand would inventory his loot. I'm not kidding, he would count and write down how much he had of each type of goodie and then decrement the count as they were consumed. He also rationed what he had so it would more than likely last until Christmas.

And of course, there was always the danger of predatory scavengers a.k.a. his brothers.

The Easter Bunny could have taken lessons from G. He would stuff sweets in nooks and crannies that the DEA wouldn't have thought of. He would have hid Mars bars on Mars if only he had the technology. Inevitably, one or two items would be discovered (after a long and purposeful search) and scarfed down immediately.

This would provoke a conflict when G found what was missing. And he checked every damned day. Accusations quickly followed by outright denials devolved into finger pointing. Then the first sugar-fueled punch would be thrown.

The damage to our dental work came sweets, but not in the form of cavities. A Hot Wheels track section could take out an eye. A thrown baseball could cripple at twenty feet. Noses were broken with a well placed throw of a Weeble. Thinking back, my dad could have saved a lot of trips to the hospital by buying Nerf products.

By the middle of November, detente would be enforced by dad invoking the tried and true ritual of "Santa only brings presents to Good Boys". This would signal the start of the Cold War.

Assets moved about in a byzantine method of redirection, falsified information and dirty tricks. Alliances would be struck only to be the victim of double- and triple-crosses before either party even left the room. The pall of fear and mistrust came a full thirty days after Halloween and went much deeper and invoked a greater sense of dread.

By the end of November, we had three powers fighting and aligning over a limited pool of resources, a la 1984. But December was close at hand. With it came candy canes. And G's meticulous record of the number and location of the same on the tree.

And we knew when the others were sleeping....

Halloweenie

Happy Spook Day to one and all!

That's about it. Not doing anything this year except picking up my dry cleaning and maybe comic books. No costume, no party. Although I thought I should start on next year's costume.

Rants and Rant

Henry Rollins was amazing! The idiot parking in my spot when I got home was less so. Because I have been instilled with a sense of tolerance I won't get it towed until tomorrow morning.

That is all.

Technical Difficulties

I know I promised a developer-related article this weekend. I'm still working on a draft (instead of just winging it) but this weekend got too "busy". It's turning out to be a long article but I'm trying to make it a non-rant. I'll let Mr. Rollins do the ranting tonight.

Long-term Relationship

My first weekend without going to work (so far, it's only Saturday). Meaning of course that I've had time to do the things I've been putting off for a few weeks. I managed to actually submit my passport renewal, do a big grocery run and to top it off two new geek bits. The first (a surprise) was Terry Pratchett's Making Money. The second was picking up Cake's new album. I spun it in the car and even though it's mostly covers, it's all Cake.

I also dropped off my dry cleaning. My dry cleaner, to whom I have been giving my custom for four years plus, moved from a convenient location to me to way down south. But I've been going to tony (yes we're on a first name basis) for quite a while, despite having most of my work clothes stolen off of his premises. The crappy location is what prompted the move I think.

With the new place, his prices went up significantly, but he gave me a 30% discount (making it cheaper than before I might add) to what really was a great price considering the dry cleaner closest to me charges nine bucks a silk shirt.

I think this is the longest non-work related relationship I have right now. In a way, that's sad, but in another it's always great to go somewhere where they treat you better than a customer. Going to drop my laundry at Tony's is actually a bit of a treat when the rest of the world treats like a number, a source of income or just a plain nuisance.

Here's to Tony!

Roll a Little Forward, Roll a Little Back

So the death march reprieve was revoked today, so it looks like we're back on the death race again. This has me a little grumpy and a bit incautious:

1. Making the "Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day, set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life" joke on a teleconference with vendors located in Southern California.
   
2. Speculating aloud if getting rid of the marketing department would improve productivity all across the board with the Acting V.P. of Information Services, who happens to be the V.P. of Marketing, sitting in the next cubicle.
   
3. After the Marketing Director says "From what I know about software.." responding with "What do you know about software (apparently he was a developer for about six months ten years ago).
   
4. Walking around the office with a pair of these in hand.

Yeah, I'm a stress puppy.

Up for Air

*gulp!*

Whalp, the death march continues but the extension of the date means that we won't be marching as long on a miles forced-marched-per-day basis. Hopefully I'll get a full (technical!) post this weekend. Barring the parental invasion.

However for my female readership (shut up Capa), I just want to get something off my chest about ... chests.

I'm six-foot-two. If you are standing in front of me, facing me and wearing something with a scoop or low neckline, I'm looking at your face. Especially if you're five-six or shorter, I can't help but look at your cleavage. Whaddaya want me to do? I can look you straight in the eye and whoomp, dere it is. Or rather, they are. Right in my field of vision. If you look up at the branches of a tree you can't help but see sky.

So don't get defensive, creeped out or otherwise. I am a gentleman who, post-surgery, has 20/15 vision in both eyes. Trust me, it's an effort of will on my part to still be a gentleman in that situation and not look at your cleavage.

Sheesh.

Quick Update

The Death March continues, so I've been too busy to update. Hopefully I'll back to my "Regular Schedule" soon.

Thanks to all those who complimented me on my last post. Been considering starting a second blog for that kind of stuff. I'll cook up a few posts first before I publish.

I'll my personal kvetching for this blog. Enjoy!

Clowns to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right! Here I Am...

Let's start off this post on a positive note for a change. Today, I ran at six mph for twenty minutes straight on the treadmill. Which is four minutes longer than in my plan.

The running thing began about three weeks ago. The day I started I was winded at the four minute mark. Maybe the pack a day has something to do with that. Since then though things have been going up in terms of time and going down in terms of what the scale says.

Now those who know me know I'm not morbidly obese or anything. In fact I've had the opposite problem: I have difficulty keeping weight one. Had I should say. Now, I can't keep the good weight where I want it (chest, arms, legs) and have accumulated some where I don't want it (belly, thighs and butt). But running has already reduced my waistline an inch (I can get into those jeans) and...

Okay, that's starting to sound too girly. Let's just sum up by saying "Running Good for Moby" and leave it at that.

The last annoyance of the day is I upgraded my iPod software and it bricked. I managed to get it going again but I have to reload the bugger. I was planning on rearranging it anyways but put in a full day at work today (Thanksgiving!) and just wanted to watch Blade Runner and shower, not in that order.

The first annoyance of the day is I may have been a bit hasty on some (certainly not all) of my comments about my downstairs neighbors. I had made a statement earlier that they were partying and having domestic disputes. Now I think they were indeed partying but the domestic disputes came from my neighbors to the west. Justin, if you're reading this, your girlfriend is right: throwing shit around when you are mad is what a four year old does. Grow the fuck up.

The neighbors to the east on the other hand have started watching foreign language films with the volume at "eleven" well past midnight. It vibrates the pictures on the walls.

I'm seriously considering moving before Christmas again if this keeps up. I have never had neighbors like this. Surprisingly my upstairs neighbors, I never hear a thump or peep from...

Mythos

We're doing a classic Death March on the project at work. For those who don't know, a death march is when a project is at the point where there is no hope of meeting a deadline unless everyone on the development team puts in alot of overtime.

It should probably be noted that more often than not that the root cause of a death march is the person who is not spending their evening and weekends punching a keyboard.

So anyways, while I was waiting for a build or three to compile, I put together a l'il list. It's actually about software development. Shocking that sort of thing could actually appear on my blog! Anyways....

Myth: It's faster to build "it" using a browser interface instead of a client-based interface.

In fact it will probably take longer. You have to take browser, operating system, servers and other environmental factors into account that you don't (or not as much) for a client application. Plus, what is a simple thing in a client application is a nightmare of complexity via a browser.

Myth: It is cheaper to build "it" using a browser interface instead of a client-based interface.

Client software applications can be expensive. Developers, testing, support etc can cost quite a bit. A web application needs the exact same resources, blood sweat and tears as a client application.

A client application sits on the box it is installed on. A web application sits on the web server that you either have to own or rent connected to the network that you either have to own or rent. And those boxes and networks need people and software to run effectively. And of course you need support programmers to keep the software running. So while it may be cheaper from the narrow scope of building the software (although not by much when it is in fact cheaper) you have to account for cost of ownership of the application for the life of the application.

Myth: A web browser can do all the same things as a client application does.

As people demand more and more "desktop" type look-and-feel for web applications, the more layers of complexity you need to put into a web-application. Two very big dangers arise from this:

1. The more you do, the fewer browsers and operating systems are compatible
   
2. The more you do, the more fragile (easy to break, hard to fix) the application becomes. In the client world, this can be mitigated by a well-designed application. For web applications, this is unavoidable.
   
3. A web page is inherently stateless. That means as a baseline, one web page knows nothing about any other web page (except for where it is). While they are many ways to make web pages look like they are state full, it is done by inelegant and complex means (as compared to full client software).
   

Myth: There are more web developers than client developers out there (or at least they are easier to find)

Kind of a half-truth. While there seems to be quite a few more people who know HTML than C++, there can be a wide gulf between a web designer (working with how a web page looks) and a web application developer (working with a web interface with a complex piece of software sitting behind it). In fact a web application developer needs to be a web designer *and* a client application developer.

Myth: Web code is throw-away code

Any code could be throw away code. For simple things it is easy to throw up a web page that performs a simple task (or it least it can be) to be replaced later.

Anything of great complexity takes a great deal thought and effort to produce (Web or client). Telling your web application developers that their code is throw-away because they program for a specific interface technology is a good way to find out how the job market is. Just because a web page is more ephemeral than a solid .EXE, doesn't mean it should be regarded as disposable.

Myth: Everyone can use an application with a web interface. It's as easy as using a browser.

Ever work as technical support on anything? Some people, through no fault of their own (in most cases) really don't know how to use a computer. While browsing to Google is pretty straightforward, what happens behind the scenes boggles the minds of a lot of really technical people.

Creating a easy-to-use interface is both an art and a science that requires a lot of thought, work, revision and code. It does not just happen because you are building for a browser.

There is also a really, really big danger if non-power users (powerless users?) start treating a web application like a client application. The first example is the "double-click" danger. In many web applications, a double click (the first click selects what they want to do, the second tells the computer to do it, at least in a client app) is a disaster waiting to happen. Double clicking "Submit" with credit card info can (and far too often does) lead to double billing. It doubles how much work the web application has to do when that happens. Take the problems you have with users in a client app and multiply by two.

A well educated user is a safe user (regardless of the type of application). An educated user is not a cheap user as well, and far too often user education is an afterthought. If thought of at all that is. (Yes, true for any application).

Myth: A web application is easier to support than a client application

The "cost of ownership" for a web application was mentioned above. Now add your support system that actually needs to help your users. In addition to the software, your support people need to know about the multiple browsers, multiple operating systems, the problems with combinations of the previous and more than likely need to tap into which ISP is having problems at the very minute. All while dealing with irate customers who can't understand why their credit card was billed twice.

If there is a single advantage in supporting a web application, it's that you can deploy a patch much faster and easier that a client application. But unless you have a really solid infrastructure and application design, it means *nobody* will get to use the web app while you patch it. And every time you do, your support people will be bombarded with calls.

Dramatique

The podunk neighbor saga continues.

On Thursday, they did it again: they had a little party which prompted yet another 3 AM phone call to the resident manager's line. The next day she asked me to write up a complaint Apparently they had refused to sign the eviction notice until they saw them. Now I can understand that they want to see the specific complaints, but jeez, they didn't notice people banging on their walls/ceiling/floor all those times?

Apparently they got the notices at 2 AM this morning. There was yelling, sobbing, hitting and/or throwing whatever is at hand. The female tried to blame all of it on the male ("I lost my job because you wanted to party!") but she was pretty much the loud one.

So I'm not sure what happens now: rumour has it an eviction is ninety days notice. There is no way in hell I can put up with this until Christmas. I'm going to have to look into that.

Other than that this is the first weekend where my responsibilities are minor, so it's been pretty relaxing. I ran 15 minutes straight at the gym yesterday, which is a helluva lot better than the four I started with a couple of weeks ago. I'm already noticing a mass shift in the belly/gluteus maximus regions. Long way to go though. Wonder if I should shoot for a half-marathon next summer? Mmmmm, runner babes....

All in all, life seems to be settling down a bit after August (only took about a month). Still looking for decent PC games, still looking for Miss Right-Now (finding Miss Right has been twenty years of disappointment, thanks very much) and the job is settling into being just a job.

So really, I'm back to kvetching about the usual things. Remarkably, that's an improvement.

Tuesday.

Argh, work is driving me nuts.

It was an eventful day, which is putting the "I'll give them a chance" attitude to the test. I'm not sure if global to the company or just one of my superiors, but I'm getting the distinct impression that what is being said is not what is going to be done.

Three more weeks to see.

Doin' laundry until I can get a decent ping for playing games.

I'm thinking about attraction and forming a theory based on tiers rather than the standard "out of 10" rating. Which means I'm ready to date again. Technically. The interpretation of "date" in this case can be read as "get some". The whole dating process just seems to be a "been there done that" sort of thing for me at the moment. I'm beginning to agree with what I overheard the other day.

On an upbeat note, I, er, almost finished "Guitar Hero" on medium....

Monday Wrap-Up

Well, for all and sundry who gave me all the best on my thirty-ninth birthday: thank you. I'm assuming you will be the same group of people participating in the intervention when I have the big four-oh.

The actual day itself was pretty non-descript, L'il Bro' B took me out for lunch (L'il Bro G was working) and that's about all the festivities (which I do not mind at all). Mind you it was a mind-blowing, belly-busting season premier of Family Guy. So that made my day. That an a l'il something that gets tossed out of the InterTubes once in a while. Sometimes the universe is a benevolent place.

I hate it when I think "hey I should blog that!" all day then sit in front of the keyboard and totally space.

Oh yeah!

Okay, have I ever introduced the "Moby Break-Up Recovery Calculator"? It gives an indication on how long it should take to recover from a break-up and be ready to "get back on the horse".

1. Take the duration of the relationship in the largest whole units (day, week, month, year)
   
2. Double the numerical amount
   
3. Decrement the unit of measurement (years become months, month become weeks, weeks become days).
   
4. The result is the approximate 'recovery time'.
   

Note that this does not produce a linear result. A year becomes two months but six months becomes twelve weeks (about three months).

One note on the original "duration". While the start of a relationship can be readily identified, the "end" depends not just on the date of a formal sundering, but when "emotionally" you were no longer together.

Just a little nonsensical measurement. I'm a geek after all.

Lessee, what else...

Oh yeah. NaNoWriMo is of course coming up in November. Considering last year's debacle, I'm wondering if I should try it again (without moving or wooing a member of the opposite sex this time). I'm inclined to do an informal attempt at it using my previously aborted start (which disqualifies me from the actual contest). Alternately I could start my Zombie novel but that requires a considerable amount of medical research...

Speaking of wooing, I'm not sure if I had an actual date or not last week. Long-time acquaintances getting together for dinner does not constitute a date. Besides, from what I know, the only way I could be more of an opposite of what she is looking for in a guy is to actually be a girl. Maybe I'm reading the signals wrong. Or that aren't there at all.

Women are a mystery to me: and I tend to flip to the back. Triple-entendre!

Oh yeah, one more thing: I fully expect that 25% of IT personell in North America will come down with a strange 24-hour bug tomorrow. Myself, I do not carry the correct vector conditions.

Emotional Intelligence

Today I finished my two day training course on Emotional Intelligence, a required course at work.

I had heard a bit about this before: various teachers I know had talked about it. The result of incorporating into schools seems to involve making sure kids aren't held accountable for anything so they don't get their feelings hurt. I can See where the principles behind EI can lead to that. If the people don't get it, it can get way misinterpreted.

It boils down to "Know Thyself". If you know what you react to and how you react, you can correct any negative reactions. I'm overgeneralizing of course.

A couple years back I did that sort of thing: took a good, hard look at my life and who I was, and what I needed to change. Overall the exercise was a success (still more work) but I did it strictly on the fly: no self-help books for me.

One thing that we did was one of those self-assessments. Turns out I am an "Amiable-Analytic". Amiable meaning I like to make sure everyone gets along (peacemaker) and very, very defensive of my peer group (geeks). Analytic of course is very logical, studied, thinks things through, sticks to the facts etc.

So really the Amiable was a bit of a surprise, but like I said I've been working on things.

The big revelation was part of the test profiles you in stress situations. I went from Amiable-Analytic to Driver-Analytic. A Driver is a type that is task driven, charges ahead and generally damns the torpedoes. That was the category I was dead last in the "normal" situations.

That actually explains a lot.

A lot was made at my previous job on my "leadership abilities" which I really didn't agree with. yeah I'm a nice guy and get along with people but leadership? Nah, too much work. But again and again I found myself in charge principally because nobody else would. This led to me telling a variety of managers, a couple of directors and a vice-president to "Lead or get the hell out of my way". I'm actually amazed (still) that it actually worked (on most occasions).

It probably also also led to the comment that when in a crisis, people in my way feel like they have been ravaged by a bunny rabbit.

When an Old Friend Passes

Today at 6:08 PM, an old and valued friend passed away. I first suspected something was wrong when I detected an irregular ticker. Despite the usual procedures, my watch did not last the rest of the day. Cause of death is attributed either to a dead battery or build-up in the inner workings.

My 256Mb USB thumb drive watch will be missed. It was most most prominent way of telling people, "Hey! I'm a dork!". It gave me street cred in the server room. And it has taken care of my vital files and resume for four years. The data (if retreivable) will by synched in a solemn ceremony at midnight tonight. The theme from "Pac-Man" will be performed.

So it looks like a golden opportunity to make a ThinkGeek order!

Hey, ya gotta move on.....

Karma-riffic!

The redneck podunk smacktards who keep partying are getting the boot! There is some justice in the world. Hats off to my cute building manager who is processing the paperwork now. And who flirted with me on the stairs. Which is also cool.

today I made the last push to get everything squared away in the new place. Except for hanging art on the walls, she's all done. I'll probably nit and pick over the next little while, but I ca actually move around without stubbing my toe on anything. At least no more than normal.

The parental invasion this weekend turned out to be more of a probe-in-force than a full scale assault. We watched the Riders vs Stamps humiliation just across from the stadium. I could not believe the carnage. No, not the football game: the number of accidents, intentionally broken windows, the side-swipes and a head-on collision before, during and after the game.

Next week: b-day 39.

Only in my Dreams?

Okay, just woke up from an odd dream.

I'm in HMV (or as my friends and I call it, HIV) with a couple of people who are my friends but I don't recognize. Or maybe they were relatives. The store is obviously being re-structured with a new floor plan.

One of my friends/relatives wants to browse some more, but gives me two CDs to buy for her. I go to the counter where William Shatner is working.

Bill rings through my purchases and tells me there is a five dollar "Damage and Breakages" fee in addition to the purchase cost. I ask if I broke anything. He tells me it's standard for every purchase. Bill looks a little sheepish about it.

So I refuse the purchase and tell Bill to undo the transaction on my credit card.

Okay, not terribly interesting, but is the fact that I seem to be getting to nickle and dimed even in my dreams is a tad disturbing.

I hope I haven't given anyone any ideas with this...

Weekend Shot

Okay, aside from the redneck, podunk, fucktard neighbors partying and domestic-disputing until 5 AM, I took a half-day off for a Parental Invasion. Which means my weekend, as stated in the title, is shot to hell.

Tired, grumpy et. al. beach required.

More Random Encounters

First off, I'm living in the same apartment that The German used to live in: I keep getting her mail. Change of address please! Actually it's charities begging for money, so I understand if my mailbox fills up with these things.

Secondly: two women discussing dating in the elevator at work. One is going on what sounded like an Internet date (aka the dreaded Lavalife or similar) tonight. She was, of course, nervous so her friend in the spirit of solidarity solidarity says "I hate dating, but at least you get a free meal out of it. After that though it sucks."

I knew it!

And I actually told some folks today who were trying to woo me to their company that I'm sticking with the new job. There's hope. Light at the end of the tunnel.

Which gave me sense of deju vu as that's exactly what I said about the old job. I never, ever, ever thought I would think of myself as too optimistic.

Huh-boy...

Random Encounters

So on the way home from work, I had the feeling I was going to run into my ex. That is to say, the ex before my last ex.

Sure enough it happened.

We chatted a bit, and she's getting hitched! Which is great actually: it's what she always wanted. Actually we did chat for a while: she's moving to Michigan to be with her guy, selling her condo at an outrageous profit and seems to have lost twenty or so pounds. She is quite pleased with her situation. All the best and we went on our separate ways.

And the end I had the thought that I dodged the bullet. Kinda cruel, but there ya go. She's happy, I'm .. er, me. That's all that really counts.

The apartment is looking better, but the road to organization was interrupted by my downstairs neighbor to complain about the hammering. I was putting together Ikea furniture, so a certain amount of hammering (and a large amount of swearing) is inevitable.

I was going to be polite, but the guy was an asshat from the over-load knock to the bug-eyed, mouth breathing expression on his mug. I said that I was moving in and that there probably was going to be more noise.

He just banged on his ceiling after that. Gonna be a long six months.

So by the rule of three, I should have another random encounter: roll 2d10 and look up the result on the following chart.

*rolls*

You hear someone playing loud music beneath your window. Looking out of your balcony you see what appears to be two trolls. They are drunk and wearing billed caps with with "John Deere" embroidered in the sweat stains. What do you do?

*rolls for initiative*

My Job is Like ... A Roller Coaster! Baby, Baby!

Well no details, but there's alot of ups and downs. I'm just wondering if it ends as all carnival attractions do: a vague sense of nausea and a lingering feeling you just got ripped off.

Anyways....

Facebook is pretty darn interesting. I've connected with folks I haven't seen in decades in some cases. Much cleaner interface than MySpace and fewer cam girls. I think that's actually a bonus all things considered.

The apartment is shaping up and I've finalized my to-buy furniture list:

Bookshelf (I've hit critical mass)

Small Dresser (combination night stand and storage)

Small Coffee Table (with some storage and also with wheels)

Small Bookshelf (yes, that much overflow)

Throw Rug for the living room (something with geometric patterns)

I also need to pick up cork for the legs of furniture, chairs etc. The laminate floor is easier to maintain, but it's pretty cheap: it scratched when I dropped a peanut butter sandwich on it.

And maybe, no probably a bed frame: the one I have I inherited from one of my parents. It has a busted wheel and is all bent out of shape. So I do need a new one, preferably with a headboard and bed posts. You know, all grown-up like.

I could make a joke about bedposts. And not about gum. But I won't cuz that's just depressing. Or maybe encouraging?

Fortress of Solitude

Yessir, the FoS is shaping up okay. I have the bathroom, kitchen and most of my room set up: now it's just about arranging furniture and storing Lego.

There's a couple of little idiosyncrasies of course.

First there's the bathroom: I can see the bottom of my chin in the mirror, but nothing further up. Which is probably a good idea first thing in the morning.

Second: I have no idea where to put my garbage.

Third, the dishwasher, which you have to lug into position and attach to the kitchen tap, doesn't attach to the kitchen tap.

Laminate floor also hurts your feet when you walk on it after a while.

But all in all, its pretty good. I'm going to like it here. As soon as I can get rid of the garbage...

Objects in Motion. Heavy Objects.

Well the move is done, save the cleaning. The old place needs to be scrubbed a bit more, but I was too damned tired to finish. The new place needs a good scrub as well. The previous tenants went from "out a week before hand" to "we don't wanna go!". Still, my land-lady gave 'em the bum rush. I just have to clean up a bit.

Thanks great and large go to Capa, London Bridge and Medium Dave. They actually made the move fun. Food and drinks after was a blast as well.

It's so quiet here. Almost no street noise and no street "people". I don't know if I can get used to this. Wait, yes I do.

Anyways, short post as I'm am in rough shape. At least there was no snow this time around.

Prozac?

Okay yesterday's post is a bit harsh. I kind of figured out today that nobody where I work has done enterprise level software, including the architect (hoo-boy...). My assumption was they have had at least a taste of it.

I have my work cut out for me.

And of course, what did I say the other day? That the only thing that could go wrong would be my truck rental? Am I psychic or what?

I called U-haul to confirm my truck reservation. They still had my reservation and then told me that I can only have the truck until three in the afternoon. I can't move into my new place until 5:30 that day. I've called my new landlady to see if I could move up the time, but I haven't heard back.

Go Google "Uhaul sucks". I am not alone.

So for those who are helping me out, I'm not sure what time we'll be done. There may be a good 3 hour stretch where I'm guarding all of my belongings sitting on a sidewalk.

Love moving....

Update: My new land-lady, I mean building manager has allowed me to move in to the new place Friday afternoon. I'm not used to having a building manager who is sympathetic, kind and willing to out of her way to help.

Have I mentioned that she is cute? She is cute.

To Quote Han Solo...

... ahhhh, you know how it goes.

The new job is starting to be, well, annoying. Maybe that's not the right word.

As reported earlier, the guy who hired me quit about a month after I started. Which means he submitted his resignation two weeks after I started. Which means he was already thinking very, very hard about leaving when he hired me.

But with this market, it happens. So if everything else is okay, it's just a blip on the radar.

That's not the only contact on the screen though.

Since I started, most of my team has either been on vacation, away on training or both: so trying to implement team-wide changes tends to be difficult when you can't get them in the same room. As holiday season closes with the long weekend, this shouldn't be a problem anymore. But I've already seen that a healthy work ethic is ... I won't say absent, but it ain't doin' too hot.

When trying to implement the smallest of changes (say, for example, that I want a chance to review all service tickets before they are closed to get an idea on how much and what we do for maintenance) it took about three weeks before I was getting over 50% of them.

Don't get me started about trying to get them to report their time on a weekly basis.

Today raised a huge red flag: a big project I got dumped on me had to be architected, as the newly appointed architect was away on afore-mentioned training and holiday. It's pretty basic stuff: abstraction of the interfaces to a third party provider.

One of the developers (the one I know is going to be a continual source of resistance) didn't understand why I designed it this way. So I explained it.

When I got back from interviewing a guy who had no business calling himself a software developer, I found the member of my team with the questions asking the architect on why it's being done this way. After it was agreed that we were doing this way. And not just "agree-to-disagree". The developer did say that advice from the architect was needed, and I agreed to that. I had thought that it would happen when I was actually present.

At first, the architect defended the design, agreeing that a level of abstraction was required. The developer persisted and under an onslaught of pestering, the architect relented and said he'd think about it. The really annoying thing is that the developer is really good technically at a code level, but a severe lack of understanding of building enterprise-level applications is pretty much pervasive in the team.

Does not bode well. And something tells me I shouldn't be publishing this.

But then again the three-month probationary period works both way, and we're half way through. I don't particularly like the idea of starting the job hunt all over again. If I learned one thing from my last place of employment though, it's that you need to look after your own damn self.

A bit mercenary, but so was our dear captain of the Millennium Falcon.

Hate. Moving.

So I'm mostly packed up. Except for one each of: bowl, spoon, knife, fork, plate, frying pan, sauce pot, coffee mug, tiki mug in the kitchen and clothing for the week.

And some other stuff, like the bathroom in it's entirety. And my DvDs are in boxes, which I've dug through twice to find "The Beastmaster". And Akira Kurosawa collections.

Oh! And my computer of course.

One ray of sunshine: the landlord wants to do the walk through on Saturday evening, so i have a whole day to clean.

Now I just have to confirm my truck reservation; it's the only thing stopping me now! That and snow. Or getting hospitalized for some reason.

hate. moving.

Load 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out!

Little bro' is now in his dinky little rented room, which means I have the place to myself. But no wild parties: it's packing time!

For the past week I've been going though the accumulated detritus of the last year. I haven't accumulated all that much within that time, but the monstrous baggage of being an alpha-geek (okay, maybe a theta-geek) mounts up.

The famous Lego collection is still intact, with a few additions in the past little while. My DvD collection has doubled in the past few months due to some wonderful discoveries in the bargain bins. I've moved on to my third comic-book box (although I will be doing a purge of that in the new place). Surprisingly, my computer game collection has barely expanded at all. In fact after today it will shrink by quite a bit.

All in all, the "toys" will account for about half the boxes to be moved this Friday.

It's kind of odd though. I seem to have hit a kind of glass-ceiling when it comes to this stuff. I don't own a stereo, my TV is neither Hi-Def nor flat screened, and I have not acquired a "next-gen" console. All because of having little room to move. Or rather too much to move into a little space.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, having those things would be "nice to have" but I don't feel the drive or urge to get them now, now, now! On the other there's a part of me that wants to get stuff that may (despite evidence to the contrary) give the appearance of "grown-up". Nice furniture, dishes and cutlery that matches, knick-knacks that aren't half-naked characters from Japanese manga, that sort of thing.

But there's no real pressing need.

Maybe somewhere, deep in the cockles, I really believe the mantra from "Fight Club": that the things you own end up owning you. So I'm owned by books, Lego, comic books and computer games. Better than being owned by Ikea and Best Buy. Or gods forbid Walmart and Costco.

Today I'm packing up what I have, and Friday I'm moving it to a place where I will be (I'm hoping for over nine months this time). Inventories (physical and spiritual) will be taken at that time.

Anyone got any packing tape?

So it Goes

They say you shouldn't drink and email so drinking and blogging is probably a mortal sin. Or maybe just a venal sin, I'm kinda outta touch with being Catholic thing.

Got acosted by Mormons today. They asked me if I had found God and so I told him I didn't even know he was missing. Smoking a turd in hell for that one I'm sure, but it may have been worth the look on the self-rightous prigs face.

I have good friends. That's nice to know. they get you drunk, drive you home and then help you move! God (who is purely fictional) bless 'em.

I'm single. Sucks. I think I'll learn how to ride a motorcycle. That's probably a sign my miid-life crisis is kicking in. What the hell though.

Work, move, whine, whinge yadda yadda yadda. Typical blog stuff.

Dammit.

Hey, for all you out there who I've been friends with and have been a jerk, sorry.

Ah, apparently I have achieved "maudlin" in the inebriated stages. So it goes. Moving little bro' out tomorrow. then on Friday after a my on move I'll have my own place again. That's great but there's a little part of me that's going to be lonely again. But then I think of my Lego and I feel much better.

Right, may be why I'm single. I'm me as much as I can be and so life goes on and yadda yadda yadda once again.

Yes I miss Laroo. But so it goes. All the best and all that. It happens.

I have good friends, even though I may not appreciate them at times. Thanks again.

I dream of a quiet beach, a lover who can love my very soul and good food. anything else is just so much stuff.

Good night sweet internet! may have a slight headache and nausea on the morrow. What we partake of in the solarian descent rises as the sun, bright, shining and merciless. But the warmth goes deep and wakes the breath of hope.

Whoops, damn English degree.

Life is About Boxes

Since the move is still two weeks away, packing seems a bit premature. But what I have started is the purge. You know, where you go through your stuff, toss what you don't need, haven't used or can't identify.

So far, one defunct and stripped computer, one defunct Playstation 2, one defunct original Playstation, a bunch of game boxes (empty because they were expansions I managed to incorporate into the original game box) some programming books from 1991 and various junk.

Tomorrow, I start purging my desk (who really needs fifty pads of sticky notes?) and all the old wiring, computer cards a sundry electronics that I've accumulated in the past decade. And the old computer games I've been clinging on to for gods know how long. but the 5.25" disks are so retro!

Thursday? Old clothes. I did a pretty good purge last November but there's always more to go. Somewhere along the line I became a clothes horse. Obviously in terms of quantity not quality. I really don't need fifty pairs of white socks. Although that can be blamed on unoriginal parents when it comes to Christmas gifts.

So little bro' moves out this weekend. After that's done, I begin boxing everything up and putting into the vacant room. It shouldn't take me more than three nights. then cleaning.

I. hate. moving. Little bro' owes me big time.

Did I mention I had a job interview today? I had a job interview today. i didn't even apply for it: one of my old managers is pretty high up the chain at this place and my name came up as a Data Warehouse Architect. Not bad.

It's a pretty shitting thing to do though: start at a company and leave after two months. But this would be an upwardly mobile opportunity (i.e. mo' moolah) and I wouldn't consider it if it were just a lateral shift.

I think I did okay in the interview considering I've been out of the whole BI biz for a couple of years. The manager who interviewed me seemed to think I would be a good fit elsewhere. I know for a fact that there is an application data architect position open there as well. So we'll see how it goes.

Whalp, an hour before bed. Game time! not that there's anything to actually play lately...

Tiny Update

Not much going on: the job is progressing (wasn't a bad week) but I have another job interview set up for Monday. It came out of the blue, from an old associate of mine. May prove interesting. I normally wouldn't consider it, but it would be a helluva step up career-wise.

Going to friend's fortieth B-day bash tonight, so a hangover tomorrow is almost a certainly. At least if I have anything to say about.

After that, the packing begins! We got a pallet of boxes delivered yesterday, so books start going into boxes tomorrow. Probably be all I'm capable of.

Actually, I've been holding off on getting Guitar Hero Encore; Rocks the 80's because I know I wouldn't get anything done in the next couple of weeks. Besides, I started getting into the "hard" levels this week. My hand hurts. And not because I'm single.

Yes, I went there. Livin' the rock-and-roll lifestyle! Middle age version.

Laroo

A couple of days ago, Laroo broke up with me. Yeah.

The reasons are, well, her reasons. I can understand them but naturally, as the dumpee, you question what's behind them: what could I have done/not done? was it inevitable or is there something wrong with the way I'm wired? You know, typically sad self-pitying schtick.

Regardless, it's over.

Even though we only went out for eight months (or is it seven? neither of us are good at calendar math) it was the best time with a significant other I've had. She's smart, funny, honest, caring loves animals, hates morons and her smile made my heart leap every time I saw it.

So Laroo, if you're reading this, I really hope you find what you are looking for. Know that you are not just strong but have a lot to offer. I'm going to miss you a lot. And all that other stuff I said. I wish things could have worked out differently.

You made this geek happy. And I'll always remember that.

That's Interesting

The guy who hired me - my new boss - quit last week. He's done at the end of next week. To quote Han Solo (esq.): "I've got a bad feeling about this".

That's all really. Laroo is jet-lagged and has a summer cold, yet she managed to rip her upstairs bathroom apart all by her lonesome (except for some help with the sink from a neighbor. On purpose for redecorating. No I didn't do anything that bad. She's an unstoppable force when riled, whereas I'm an immovable object.

I also have been worrying about retirement. If I put away $10,000 per year, with a return rate of 5% I'll be able to retire when I'm 75. And that's not counting inflation. More reason to "spend it while you can".

Little Bro and mah-sel' is goin' ta Vegas fer Christmas!

Not much more than that I'm afraid. Updates as events warrant (and Ted Koppel is notified).