Manic Oppressive

My XP machine took a digger. It kept randomly rebooting, and I traced the problem to the video drivers. But alas! Seems that the only way of fixing it would be to re-install windows.

So I slapped Linux on there. Now as soon as I can get the wireless card to connect to the network…

I whine a lot about my apartment complex. People don’t always believe me, but occasionally, it makes the news. Wee!

I got home on Sunday night around a quarter to one, and my speed-addict neighbor kept me awake until 3:00. He has this horrible cough that, when heard from next door, I first mistook to be my cell phone. This is what happens when one smokes plastic, I guess.

Needless to say, when I peeled myself out of bed at 6:00, I wasn’t exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. In fact, a few minutes later I was surprised to find myself in the shower, wondering exactly when I had started.

My whole day was like that. I hope that I didn’t hit any one driving home from work yesterday.

A water main just broke in my building. No water at all, meaning no heat. So my broken thermostat is now… useless?

There’s some guy welding the floor registers in the lobby, so I think that it will be back to “normal” soon. In the meantime, it’s too cold to get any real computer work done. So off I go.

I was pulling out of my apartment complex, and I noticed a fire truck at the egress intersection. So I said, “Oooh, a Fire Twuck!”

I then proceeded to determine what it was doing and where it was going. It was to the right of the lane, and it had it’s hazards on, but no flashish red and blue strobes. The hazards on the fire truck were flashing orange arrows pointing in opposing directions.

So my assumption was that it was sitting there, and the lights were indicating that I was to go around it. So I pulled out of the drive way, and made my left-hand turn, at which point they honked at me. Nothing quite like the sound of an air horn while driving to make you soil your jeans.

Anyway, it turned out that they, too, were turning left. But they decided not to indicate that. Grrr.

I just got a Birthday card from my dealership.

I can’t tell if it’s 2 months late or way too early, or if it means anything that it was postmarked on Valentine’s day.

Whatever.

I was waiting in line at Safeway, and I was behind several people buying late Valentine’s Day gifts. You know, the normal boring chocolates and flowers. Balloons and whatnot.

And I thought to myself that if I were to buy someone a Valentine’s Day gift from Safeway, I would probably buy a salt lick.

After all, they’re only five bucks. Chocolates are around $10.

Anyway, I’m off to cry myself asleep in the shower.

alone.

At the end of the month, people moving out tend to post lists of their stuff that they’re selling. Usually they’re pretty boring — good prices aside. But there was one recently that was entertaining on many levels.

I was going to take a picture, but never really had the time and it was only up for a few days. But I remember enough of it, I think:

• Aiwa Home Stero, $40
• MIG Welding kit, Like new, $60
• .22 Caliber Rifle, Like new, $75
• Wedding Ring, New, $200

I wish them the best.

So I have a new “cube mate” at work. After 8 months of being the only contractor around there with an office of my own, I finally had to give up the other side for someone.

He happens to be on my team, so I guess that not all is lost.

Anyway, I was navigating him through a web-site, and I said, “Click on the book in the upper left hand corner…” He fumbled with the mouse for a few seconds before asking, “What book?”, and I pointed it out to him. He then asked, “That’s a book?”.

So I replied that having worked for a library company, I could see a book in even the most abstract of icons. One gets used to it, I guess. So we started talking about my previous job with The Library Corporation, aka Carl.

Turns out he had interviewed there before ending up where he is now.

That, in combination with the fact that two different contractors that used to work there around a year ago have applied for the same position (one on two different occasions) leads to some startling conclusions.

1. There are two companies in the world that are hiring programmers right now. Them and Us.
2. In order to work with us, one needs to be rejected by them.
3. Meaning that I’m a reject.

Now when I left last March, I made a statement along the lines that I wouldn’t be able to find as sharp a team in the “real world.” At the time, I don’t think that I realized how right I was. Now don’t get men wrong, this new contractor guy is good, but I can kind of understand why he wouldn’t of fit in with Them.

And I had to laugh when he said, of the interview, “It seems like they were only asking technical questions related to problems that they recently had.”

Anyway, that’s my story.