Monday
January 1, 2007
It's New Year's weekend and now I'm sick as hell. I spent New Year's Eve in bed most of the day, but managed to get up and spend the night hanging out with Tony, getting drunk on the bottle of champagne he had received from a co-worker.
I woke up today feeling icky, but guess what? My left knee, that was the first to blow (back in August), was feeling back to normal (mostly) and my right knee (it blew out in November) was 50 percent better. Yahoo! 2007 is indeed looking up.
Saturday
January 13, 2007
My car got hit again last night.
I got up to move my car so I could load it up in the morning with a couple of bags of clothes for the women and children's shelter. When I was parking, I noticed the cover that goes across my back storage area was messed up. Then I saw the window gone. This time they did a good job demolishing my car. I need a new cover; it's bent and torn. They broke part of the body molding when they busted the very heavy passenger side rear tinted glass. They scratched up my car majorly. They took nothing — except a bag of clothes already back there that was to go to the shelter. Tony said when I called him, I was very very calm. I told him, I wanted to scream, cry, and fucking kill the bastards. I was quiet because I was plotting what tortures I'd love to administer to the culprit(s).
After Tony and I had cleaned up the glass and taped up the window, I called GEICO to file my claim and make an appointment to have my window fixed. I'm so glad I have the glass repair rider in my contract. It's pretty much paid for itself already.
I had intended to do some work on my website, so I buried myself in my work to take my mind off of my car. I did a little bit of changes, but not nearly a dent in all that I want to do with my site. I put it away for another day I'm more into it.
It's the second time my car has been hit like that in about a 6-month period.
I hope they choke on glass.
Monday
January 15, 2007
While the world gets a day off for Martin Luther King's birthday, I am here at work.
It's a dull, rainy, dreary day. The noon hour passed and the glass guy never showed up. Surprise! Surprise!
Not.
I called and of course the rain delayed things, but I was promised he would be here before I had to leave at 2:30 for the day. I did get a surprise; the guy actually made it and was just very cool. He got me fixed up quick. I felt bad because the ATM at work was broken, and couldn't take out a tip for him, but I got his card and sent him off $20 by mail.
This evening I signed the documents for my attorney to file on my lawsuit. Another grand to him, and he'll be paid off, and then I can relax a bit and put my earnings toward mine and Tony's future. Like a house.
Friday
January 26, 2007
It seems that winter is actually going to stay for awhile. It's all good with me; I don't mind the winter months. It's all the up and down craziness in temperatures we have had. It wasn't but a couple of weeks ago, people were wearing shorts and having barbecues. Two days later, we get snow.
The snow didn't much last; 2 hours maybe. It was so pretty going to work that morning, and sad to see the snow all gone by the time I was out to lunch, my coat far to heavy for the warm day it became.
Now, though, I think winter will stick around for a bit. For some reason, we have no heat here at work. And of all days not to have heat, today is the coldest day we've had since 2005.
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Sunday
January 28, 2007
After an exciting day down in the laundry room, I spent the rest of the day continuing with the renovations on my site.
I am so #&%# frustrated at the moment. I previewed all my changes and viewed them offline; perfect! Then I uploaded them all. *insert a scream — several screams — here* My graphics aren't coming up. Everything validated, my XML, my CSS. This is just — weird.
It's freezing today; the landlord is being cheap with the heat today. I think I'm going to shut down for the night and continue trying to figure out what is wrong tomorrow. Or Tuesday. Or, someday.
Tuesday
January 30, 2007
Ah. The end of the first month of the new year almost! Thus far, the month has not been a good portent for the remainding eleven! Figure in the mess in Iraq and Hilary Clinton running for President, it's definitely a bad stew in the mix.
I can only hope for that $10 million that Ed McMahon has been promising me now going on twenty years so Tony and I can head off to that tiny island far far away …
I revamped my business site, though it just didn't do it for me. So, I'm re-vamping again. My page wouldn't load up right the other night because somewhere between my internet server and my web server, certain key elements got lost. By the time I was able to get everything uploaded properly, I had already decided I wasn't happy with what I had done, and already had a new working model for the entry page, which I uploaded. The main portion of the business site I have yet to finish up, but I should be done by the weekend.
Next, I'm tackling my personal pages. Somewhat.
I'm working on ideas for my sci-fi/fantasy section. I need to get Pern and Xanth up and running; they're great book series. I'm going add yet another; Maximum Ride. One of my favorite suspense authors started a series of fantasy books that are just awesome. I was so excited when I happened across the first Maximum Ride book and was delighted. Of course, there are many authors out there with great series books, like Herbert's Dune.
I also have to finish up my Gorean pages. I'm just really not motivated on that project, and quite frankly, have considered just shutting it down completely and permanently this time. I do, however, still get inquiries on using my site.
I got a couple of interesting things in my email the other day.
One is the annual neologism contest winners posted by The Washington Post. Most are bland, I think. Here are the winners:
- Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
- Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained. I like this one
- Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach. This one too … In fact, I've abdicated years ago.
- Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
- Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
- Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
- Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
- Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
- Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steam roller.
- Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
- Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
- Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
- Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
- Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
- Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
- Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
A bit more humorous are the:
25 Signs That You've Grown Up for Good:
- Your houseplants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them. My houseplants all live in my shower; it's the only place we get enough sunlight. I consider everytime I step into the shower of turning on "Soft Sounds of the Jungle" for effects sake…
- Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.
- You keep more food than beer in the fridge. Actually, I keep more beer in the fridge than I did way back long ago.
- 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed. Damn, so true
- You hear your favorite song in an elevator. I actually heard Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" in an elevator once …
- You watch the Weather Channel. Never
- Your friends marry and divorce instead of "hook up" and "break up."
- You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14. I wasn't depressed until I read that and realized how pathetically true that is.
- Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up." Why not?
- You're the one calling the police because those %&@# kids next door won't turn down the stereo. *coff* It's usually us blasting the stereo.
- Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
- You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore. They all suck now that they're all franchises
- Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
- You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's leftovers. My dog has better taste than McDonalds
- Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt. Everything makes my back hurt…
- You take naps. When I can …
- Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
- Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach. Perhaps, but it hasn't stopped us from munching kebabs from a corner cart while prowling the Village
- You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
- A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer "pretty good sh_t." Never was. Well. There was that time I drank a whole gallon of Gallo peach wine …
- You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
- "I just can't drink the way I used to" replaces "I'm never going to drink that much again." *grumps*
- 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work. In the time of the dinosaurs when I was a kid, we didn't have computers …
- You drink at home to save money before going to a bar.
- When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking "Oh sh_t, what the hell happened?" That would depend on the friend …
And Lastly…
You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you and can't find one to save your sorry ass. ;-) There are a few actually that don't apply, so …... :)~~~~~~~
Wednesday
January 31, 2007
The Princess and the P-Touch
Once upon a time in the land of financial solutions lived a dourly princess. She couldn't figure out how to print envelopes on the deskjet at her desk, and so a label printer was ordered for her. The servant there received and unpacked the shipping box and the inner box within, leaving the printer within the display box, placing it on Her Highness' desk.
The Princess, mortified of this, went to the King after the servant had retired for the day.
The next morning, the King requested that the servant remove the label printer from the display box for the Princess …
The biggest problem I had with this scenario is the lack of respect and courtesy.
That and the fact that I don't do princess.
People I have worked with, as well as myself, would have done things totally different. Even my most techno-clueless of bosses would have at least opened the box, taken out the very small little gadget and attached the cords; many would even have gone so far as to *gasp* plug it in. I would have found them with the floppy in hand looking dumbfounded and they'd say, "please Charlotte, can you help me with this?"
Only a rare few are techno-geeks like me who would have salivated at having a new toy and ripped open the box in 0.2 seconds flat.
But that's okay; they gave me courtesy and respect, which allowed me to feel pride in what I know and do.
However, to not even acknowledge me and basically go behind my back and whine just … doesn't cut it with me and I have no sense of guilt in refusing to cater to their princess acts.
I've always worked hard in every job I have had, to ensure that if there was something I didn't know, to damn well learn it.
Or at least try.
I remember long ago at my most favorite job I have EVER had, working with the boys at the flight test facility. My sad little computer died on me and my boss told me to order a new hard drive. When it arrived, it was set on my desk. Okay. So, I opened it. Yep. Hard drive. I inquired, "Hey who's going to install it?" The reply that still harbors my mind: "You are." *GULP*
I was a total virgin nerd back then and the thought of opening up the computer … EXCITED ME! One of the guys sat with me and showed me how to do it. Well, he watched ME do it while he took me through the steps. This was back in the days when Plug-and-Play was non-existent.
From that moment on, I was "cool" among my guys. I was brought little things here and there to put together my very first hand-built from scratch computer. I worked on it from home mostly; I remember the all-night vigil of setting up the CMOS because that wasn't Plug-and-Play either and despite all the frustrations, I did it — and held that pride from then on. It was a wonderful accomplishment.
Of course, it made me the techno-geek that I am today.
I guess the moral of the story for the Princess is … you have to give respect and courtesy in order to receive it in return.
I can't respect anyone who can't at least try.
Though my boss said (after our … *coff* discussion) that he understood my feelings on it, I don't really think he did.
In closing, all I can say is… suck it up princess.
