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August 2008Patience is a virtue and other lies
So after a coworker came in today to tell me how dreadful this year’s budget for raises and bonuses is, my lead followed me out of the standup meeting where I had just given him a hard time to tell me he wanted to finish one review before the end of the day.
Mind you, it’s 4:10pm when he talks to me. So since then, I’ve been “working,” all looking forward to my suddenly forthcoming review.
I know I did some rather good work in the last year, but the rumors I have heard have indicated that I should expect little, if any, financial reward — and no, I’m not in it for the money, but it doesn’t hurt. =]
He told me he would be ready around 4:45. Well, it’s now almost 5:30. He came by around 4:45 to tell me he wasn’t quite done. Which was fine, as I had had Mandrina ask me for a bit of assistance via voicemail while I was in the meeting, and then received a phone call from the police regarding the aforementioned PayPal spot of bother.
And I’m still sitting here. Still waiting. I have to leave here at 6:30 to make my bus. No stress. No sirree. In the back of my head, though, I remember people being fired at the end of the day on Friday, as they’re less likely to make a fuss. Fortunately, it’s Wednesday…
Does anyone else loathe Splenda?
I made a mistake yesterday. I bought some yogurt, and only noticed that it was the cheapest kind. After the fact, I noticed I had bought “Light” Yogurt. I can deal with that, not a problem.
Then I went to have one this morning. Took a single taste, and instantly recoiled. Checked the ingredients list, and… Splenda. I hate Splenda. I shrugged and finished it because I hate to waste food… and then felt ill for the next few hours. I’m going to endeavor to return the rest of the yogurt, obviously.
But I have to wonder: Mandrina uses Splenda rather than sugar in both coffee and tea. I can’t stand Splenda in anything I eat or drink. Does anyone else like the stuff?
My license has been revoked
On Sunday night, Mandrina asked me to start some water on the stove so she could make grits when she got home from rehearsal. As a pleasant surprise, I figured, “Hey, I can cook grits. They can be ready when she gets home!”
Now, let’s be clear. We’re talking “instant grits.” The steps consist of measuring water, heating water, adding grits, covering. Not rocket science. Not even science at all. The back of the box has less than half of the box covered in instructions — with one quarter of the box given over to branding, and the instructions provided in two languages and for both stovetop and microwave. Even they know it’s simple. And I’ve made grits before — with great success. Long before we were even married, Mandrina received grits as a present from her best friend back home, and I made REAL grits.
Not so on Sunday night. I expect to shortly receive formal notice from the Association of Men Qualified To Marry Southern Belles that my license has been revoked, as the grits I made ended up being worse than gruel. I’ll have to start from scratch again… Back to putting bacon in vegetables…
Four out of Five Doctors…
are currently hunting down the last remaining wise ass who refuses to toe the company line.
What do you want your Server do?
Partially as a learning exercise, and partially because I’m a money grubbing greedy bastard, I’m trying to come up with a clever extension to Microsoft Windows Home Server.
Unfortunately, I already had pretty much everything I needed on the base installation; I had originally installed it purely to have a system I could hook up my parallel printer to. It already supports remote desktop to systems within your local network, as well as remote access to files on the server via secured login. Heck, it even provides dynamic DNS service, complete with chained certificates for secured access. Nice, huh?
I figure most people out there do NOT have WHS installed. Probably have no need for it. So, why don’t you let me know what would make you want a Windows Home Server? If you have one, what feature do you wish it had? If you could have your own personal secured web server, what do you really wish you could do on it?
I’m married to the Chief Engineer!
Mandrina mentioned she wanted to audition for a new Star Trek fan-series to be filmed in the Seattle area — Star Trek: Phoenix. So she vanished for several hours both days this past weekend. I spent my time sitting in libraries because it was too bloody hot. Guess who accomplished more?
Well, come Monday the casting results were posted. Mandrina was cast in the role she wanted — as Chief Engineer… someone whose name I can’t remember. (Sorry, love!)
Okay, so I’m just bragging.
Retroactive tagging
I’ve spent a few minutes today going back through over two years of posts and tagging them “appropriately.” The new version of WordPress supports tags, and I’ve always wanted a Tag Cloud (left hand column — see that bit with varying sized pieces of text?), so…
So there have been a TON of updates today. It’s just that none of them mattered.
Amateur Hour
Someone took my PayPal account on a shopping trip last night! So nice, my PayPal account doesn’t usually get to go out and have fun.
However, I decided I wanted my six hundred dollars back.
So I suffered through several hours of frustration with PayPal, my bank and my credit card company. Not the most pleasant way to spend my day.
However, I managed to discover the email address of the perp (the police offer who filed my fraud report informed me that “perp” is a East Coast term) with the help of one of the parties who had had items purchased from. A half hour later, and I have his birth date (as in, Month, Day, and Year), preferred email addresses and online aliases, interests, and HOMETOWN. He used the same email address for legal endeavors as he did for his illegal attempt.
Thirteen years old doesn’t excuse stupidity.