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Daynotes on a budgetThe weekly diary of a PC GeekUpdated: Sunday, November 12, 2000 09:08 PM -0600 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jerry Pournelle
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Sunday Well. After yesterday's foolishness, and a very busy weekend (wherein I just realized I probably forgot to move the Most Recent tag since probably Thursday of last week... oops), this morning's weather matches my mood. The 'Queens are playing in Green Bay tonight, in weather that will likely be cold and rainy. Good luck to them - ha. I'm thinking that a quick-strike offense that relies on lots of passes will be something less than likely this evening. Of course, this morning's first phone call was somewhat unpleasant. For the record, I'll record what happened then we can get onto the casting asparagus. I was traveling with SWMBO northbound on 35E. I noticed traffic was slowing, so I aimed the car for the off-ramp at Pilot Knob Road and Lone Oak Road. Got off the freeway OK, and started up the off-ramp (The interstate system here was built originally with the intention that, where ever possible, they could move heavy armor, such as tanks, down the roads - happens occasionally, but not often - as a result, most off-ramps go up a hill and then use overpass bridges to move traffic across). Anyway, on the way up the ramp, I noticed the middle lane was blocked by a vehicle with the flashers on. No one in the vehicle, so I figured little chance of it moving. So here I am, perhaps a quarter-mile behind this vehicle with flashers, and needing to make a left turn. Since this was a three-lane off-ramp, and the two left lanes turned left, I got into the left-most lane. Most vehicles were smart enough to look ahead, and we were all waiting for the green light. It came, and I started forward. At this point I was probably a good two hundred yards behind the car, a little over a tenth of a mile (call it about 185 meters, too). Did I mention that it was raining (again) here? Anyway, here I was, moving at about 20 mph up the ramp to make my left turn, and suddenly, this gray Mitsubishi Eclipse, license BTZ 269 was off my passenger door, attempting to shove me off the road. Holy bleep, and other things, I hollered, whilst leaning on the horn (mind you, the horn honk of a Ford Tempo is about as authoritative as one of those little plastic squeeze-bulb horns - not the Harpo Marx horn honk, but sort of an "Ernie's Rubber Ducky" type of squeak, when compared to other road vehicles - but lay on it I did). Mr. Eclipse proceeded to horn his way in, and attempted to shove me right off the side of the road. I stopped, to let him in, and he shoved his way through. Following this, I went through the green light and was in the lane next to this fellow. Extremely angry and upset, I pulled out the cell phone and pressed 911. Through most of this summer and fall, the State Patrol has been waging a campaign against aggressive drivers. Those that do such things are at the very least ticketed, if not spanked, when caught doing such behaviors. So, I dialed, but I hadn't hit the send button yet. At the next light, I was nearly calmed down as I pulled next to this fellow, and I looked over at him, where he was holding up his single middle digit in the universal symbol for "Gee, I really screwed up, and I'm sorry." Or at least, so I tell my children, who have been instructed not to use such gestures unless they're driving. At that point, I hit the send button, and spoke to a dispatcher. Young Mr. Eclipse again passed me, and noticed me talking on a cell phone this time. Suddenly, Mr. Bob-and-weave-through-traffic-at-15-miles-over-the-standard-speed-limit becomes Mr. Law Abiding Citizen, doing a good 10 miles UNDER the speed limit. Unfortunately, at this point in this state, all cell-phone calls are
directed to the State Patrol officers who can enforce the rules of the
road on the freeways only. Since this was on an off-ramp, they had
marginal jurisdiction; they could do nothing along the lines of a
citation, but they could send a letter. Which they're going to do.
Ach, well. I was re-reading the e-mails from the potentially useful employer (Spherion) this week - they aren't exactly returning my calls over the last three business days, so I've got little else to go on. I think I've learned something rather significant about this whole situation. Now, I've been educated in lots of different things, but I've found that the lessons that stay with me the most are the ones I experience, rather than the ones that are told to me. As they say, experience is what you get when you wanted something else. I've learned it's not in how people (or companies) deliver good news that one can judge their character, but in how they handle delivery of bad news. Frankly, I would think that at least one of the people on their side of the table would speak with me regarding this situation. But not so far. We'll see if anything comes from it. If not, oh well, I wish them luck, and will keep looking for myself. Sent out a batch of resumes yesterday evening, and I need to make phone calls on those. I've made others this morning, and have had some encouragement. But the job isn't going to come find me. Later: Still raining, seven solid straight hours later. Good grief. At least it's not turning to snow yet - we'd likely have six inches or more. Which makes the elevation of the snow king so much more fun. Did discover one job that really needs doing - one firm I applied to returned the e-mail - "permanent fatal errors" - so I checked their web site, assuming that there was a problem with their spelling in the ad. Found the director of recruiting's e-mail address... sent him the resume. Yup, you guessed it, Permanent Fatal Errors. Looks like they'll get the slow boat to China method. Now here's a question - if you try to e-mail, and it fails, should you mention that to them? I think it's probably a serious breach of etiquette, but then again, if I'm one of the few to send paper mail, will that help? They didn't include the street address in the ad.... ;-/. Oh, well. Must have sent about 20 e-mails this morning on jobs - let's hope one or more comes through... Later Still: Probably about a month and a half ago, Ann looked at me and said "finally; we're due for some good luck." Not that it's her fault, mind you, but I'm thinking once she said that (and I believed her) the wheels came off the cart around here. This afternoon, as I was sitting here trying to figure out where to turn next with this whole job hunt thing, the phone rang. A friend of mine I've known for thirty years now, on the other end. A mutual friend of ours, best man at both our weddings, has been diagnosed with lymphoma - cancerous. Young fellow, two small adopted kids, lovely, wonderful wife, and he catches this one in the store. Makes my problems seem very small by comparison. The good news, if one can use that in this particular situation, is that it sounds like it's a very treatable form. One of the local sports anchors was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma about 18 months ago - poor fellow DID work through the treatment, whenever possible, which was pretty inspiring to many people. He's returned now to full strength, and doesn't look too bad. The good news in my friend's case is that if he does get chemo as a treatment form, he won't have to worry about losing any hair off his head - that's long gone. It's the rest of his body which might give the plumbing a workout. Regardless of that, he will be in our prayers for many weeks to come - and damnit, he'd better finally come across so we can meet their kids - we've played near-miss tag for about the last three years with them about meeting their little ones. My hunch is that it's his wife, who doesn't want me to be a bad influence on the little ones. Although it could be him - as a holy terror of a dater (when he was younger), I think he's worried about the chickens coming home to roost when his daughter starts getting involved romantically with the males of the species (of which I have one in her age bracket, for a good laugh). He's in our prayers, in any case. Long-term friendship is an extremely rare thing any more. I've known most of them twenty years. And I'm quite certain that many others have similar, and even longer relationships. And I think that the reason that our friendships of childhood tend to be longer lasting is the way we become friends as kids. As a child, you've been brought into the world with all of the tools you need to succeed. You're also completely totally hosed because you couldn't even understand the owner's manual if there was one. As a result, you've got emotions and hormones and various other events impacting you, and you're so totally lacking in ways to handle what you're experiencing that you act like a total jerk. Or at least, most of the goofballs I grew up with did. It has the advantage of showing you the worst a person could be. You can handle just about anything else after that. And In The End: Fourteen or fifteen years ago, I would have been sitting in a college dorm room, with probably a case of beer in the fridge, reading some text book about some particular topic which, at this point, I probably use about 10% of, and in the free moments shooting the breeze with various friends I had. As this day has worn on, I've heard from my oldest friend that another close friend has cancer. I've spoken to him, and he's assured me that since he's already bald, adopts his children, and is overweight, the three main side-effects of chemotherapy (hair loss, impotence, and weight loss) will be helpful, or at least not all that harmful. Then I hear that another, the first to become not only a father, but a daddy, in our group, has abused his children, blames his mother, wife, and the children for not getting him into treatment, and refuses to accept responsibility for what he's done. There are times when being me is starting to sound ever more like a freakin' soap opera and less like a normal life. I know it's trite, but I've got to believe that it's always darkest before the dawn. And if SWMBO has anything to say about it, dawn's going to be pretty quick here. The young lady went into the linen closet this evening and retrieved a light bulb for the light over the oven. "Hmmmm", she says, "It says 40 watts on the package." She manages to screw the bulb into the socket, and turns it on. We go from a fairly anemic 40 watts on the stovetop to a searchlight-style high-beams. "Honey?" says I, "isn't that a little bright?" Turned off the light, and waited for it to cool. Popped off the plastic, and sure enough, 150 watts. Well, I guess she was just trying to light a candle...
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Sunday If this is any indication, and I know it's not, I was citizen number 165 to shove my ballot through the counting machine this morning, and that occurred prior to 8 am - the polls opened at 7 am, and will remain open until 8 pm. There were probably another two hundred behind me, and the parking lot was showing steady traffic. I've heard it said that many people don't vote because it's too much work. Frankly, you're right. It's too damned much work for some to participate in a democracy. And those people should shove off. If you're one of those, then get out. Don't waste our time. I used to know people who would constantly complain about the
government, the local issues, and all the rest, and then, when asked who
they supported, would admit they hadn't voted in the last
election. Folks, do us all a favor. Support your favorite
candidates, get out and vote. Please.
One funny note on the ballot - Ann had considered a run at the state house earlier this year. God only knows what would have happened to her had anyone found this site. But then again, we're all human. Elected officials shouldn't be put on pedistals. Anyway, the person she was looking at running against had no opponent. So I wrote in her name. She'll get there, soon enough. Just thankfully not this year. Could you imagine what would have happened with our lives if all this occurred during a political campaign? Today will be more pins and needles. We'll see what happens. I've reached the point with Spherion where I'm fairly certain that they won't be using me, which is unfortunate. But I'll catch on somewhere else. And for the record, I'm not angry with Spherion. I'm angry with myself. I'd been given plenty of information regarding them, and chose to ignore it. And I don't mean that as a slight to Spherion. As a company, I'm sure they do good work. As professionals, they have to be. As to how they've treated me, I guess I can't understand why they've done what they've done, but obviously, it's their prerogative, and that's that, as they say. So today, we wait on calls... and wait, and wait, and look for more opportunities, and wait... And probably run a few errands. Very Curious, and Bother, quoth Pooh. I'm getting about 50% of my normal "ping" routines returned as destination not found, or request timed out. Could it be that they're already trying to see who's leading in the elections? Good grief. And No, I will have no comment at all on the Viking's Overtime Loss to those damned Packers. But to say that Chris Dishman will likely be looking for a new job in the coming weeks. Hopefully he'll have an easier time than I did. But not too easy. And this story will break your heart. Stealing from Cub Scouts. Those kids work damned hard to raise money. As do the parents, and the others involved. That's a criminal who ought to be beat on. Just for fun. And a final note on the elections. My Tasmanian friend and fellow Daynoter, Jonathon Sturm, has the reason I'm so bloody vocal. His thought for the day pretty much nails the need to vote on the head, and on your head. No, we're not facing the choice between a death camp or relative luxury in this presidential race - both men are good men (and I mean Gore/Bush, not just one single ticket). Both will likely end up, for reasons of government inertia, having very little effect on the overall direction of my life, and some small influence in the lives of my children. But damnit, get out and exercise your voice, vote your conscience. Don't sit at home like an idiot, or soon you won't have a voice to exercise. Later: Well, an eventful afternoon. Lined up an interview for tomorrow afternoon as a Filemaker Pro database developer (Don't laugh - I've done that sort of thing in the past - and if you're familiar with Filemaker Pro, you'll understand why I prefer that to MS Access. Passed the local polling place at about 2:15 pm today - the line was out the door. Passed it on the way home about 6:30 pm. The line was still out the door. And that's despite a bitter south (yes, south - where in the hell did Iowa get a bitter cold win generator?) wind, and that white stuff, starts with "s", and stands for "oh, hell, that crap again". In other words, that damned snow. Jack was evaluated today for kindergarten. He's right in the middle of the "good" levels - which is pretty surprising considering that he's still 22 months away from starting school there. Pretty smart little ape. So, after we did the pre-school testing, we hit McDonalds for a brief warm-up, and a roll in the ball pit. And, I swear, my hand to God, there were three older fellows there - Al and Ralph at one table, and George at the other. They were chatting about the election, and it gave me a huge grin. One fellow was in construction, and I would have pegged him for "Dubyah" and he was in Gore's camp. Another fellow was calling Nader a socialist, and Buchanan a racist. The third older guy, who I figured for a Gore man, was firmly in Buchanan's pocket. Good grief. Thank goodness I'm not a political pundit. So, anyway, got the kids, got to the grocery store, and we looked at eachother with the "I thought YOU had the list!?!?!" So we bumbled through that, and then hopped over to The Big K (right next to the polling place) for hats, mittens, and assorted other cold-weather gear. Then, of course, to home, where SWMBO takes exception to my recounting of the light conversation above. She wishes to point out that she was cooking dinner at the time, which around here is a mostly thankless and occasionally abused position. Though not as much as my back when Mr. Serrated Elbows hops into my bed for some reason or other. And though it's a little late, you can help dress the winner (and loser) from today's election HERE. And have the speakers turned up loud.
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Sunday I'm getting a little tired of the term "historic" already. You have to realize that I've lived through three "blizzard of the century" winter storms, two "storm of the century" summer storms, one presidential assassination, one three attempted assassinations, several hundred other "historical" events, and none of them still holds a candle to man standing on the moon. I'm sure, when the history CD for the high school is produced for my daughter to study, there will be much written about this election. I hope one of the phrases/sections covers "the last time the electoral college was used." Yes, I know that it requires a constitutional amendment to change that, but I think the framers of the constitution were attempting to build a method that would handle a country that required more than a month to travel from end to end. This whole process over the last 12 hours or so reminds me mostly of a couple of pigs on ice skates. You watch the poor animals wobble around, knowing that, in the end, you're going to have ham, bacon, and head cheese. I pity the poor fellow who wins almost as much as the fellow who loses. The guy who wins is going to have a VERY difficult time governing, given the fact that he lacks a clear majority in this country - and since we tend to thrive on consensus around here, I'm guessing that the winning candidate will attempt to vigorously implement their platform, regardless of what the rest of the country has indicated. As a result, those who were either in the middle (Buchanan and Nader supporters, mostly) will vote for the loser's candidates in two years when we go through this again. And he'll likely lose the run for re-election. Too bad we didn't have better people out there with better ideas. Don't get me wrong - I don't view either of these two men as evil, or even bad individuals. They both are good men, better than the jackass who occupies that office currently (say what you will about Clinton's public policies, which have been pretty good for our economy - his personal behavior has been reprehensible at best - I wouldn't allow him alone in the room with my daughter, were she of legal, or near-legal age). But neither one of them have been particularly inspiring. Though I will admit that the comedians would probably prefer a new target to poke holes in - the robotic Gore jokes are getting so long in the tooth, my recent Dilbert Newsletter included one. Although I was a bit confused this morning - the morning news program came on, and the announcers talked, and talked, and then the commercials came and went. I was totally adrift - no earnest people speaking directly to the camera, no people standing there with mudballs in their hands (my favorite commercial for the season was for our state-wide three-party senate race, with the poor fellow supported by Baldy our Governor, James (Jim) Gibson. Fellow was outspent by a factor of perhaps a hundred - I saw his ad run once in the closing days - him standing alone in a field, hands full of mud, saying "come on, I dare ya!" as the voiceover talked about the amounts of money the other two (Grams, a Minnesota native, and former TV Anchor), and Dayton (also a native, former state auditor, and heir of the Daytons/Target family), who lobbed various attack ads at one another like they were M&Ms. Gibson felt left out, and it was rather funny. The saddest note is that this fellow fought hard for the job, and honorably, but the leading member of his party, old Baldy, decided he was too sick to come to the campaign headquarters and commiserate. Guess he only likes winners...). No six-minute commercial blocks with people calling one another "honorable opponent" and doing everything in their power to prove them otherwise. It was like a breath of fresh air. Ach, well. More on that later. I have to admit that I do feel sorry for former Senator John Ashcroft, from Missouri. The "Show Me" state elected a man they couldn't see any more. That's really got to sting, to lose to a dead man. Even a good one. However, in this state, we've elected a new Senator, and turned the old one out. "Smell what the Rod is cooking," indeed. And we're apparently getting our first "accumulating" snow. For those of you in warmer or wetter (but not as cold) climes, snow certainly sounds nice. A soft white blanket covering the landscape. Creates a hush; everything sounds quieter, sharp sounds are magnified (usually as a function of the cold weather), and it's like frosting on the landscape. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? Well, here in the prairies, we don't get that sort of thing but once in a very very long while. Last time it happened was about nine years ago, in 1991. We had thirty inches of snow in about eighteen hours, and that was nice. However, here we usually get what happened yesterday - a brief dusting - just enough to make it look like a slap-dash job. In most winters, we don't get enough snow to cover the roadside weeds. To me, that's a little less than a good job. But oh well. We take what we can get. I'd settle right now for about a month of nice, warm, dry weather (last year we hit 70 degrees on December 1), and then a decent snowstorm, about eighteen inches or so, starting on a Thursday afternoon, late enough to avoid the rush hour, but enough to allow them to call off school and work for Friday. Gotta love those days. As a kid, I think in 1973, we had one of those Storms of the Century - it was actually about forty inches of snow where we lived in about two days. I remember shoveling that snow later, and finding about an inch of raw dirt about three inches below the top layer of snow - most of the topsoil of the Dakotas, and western Minnesota, had been ripped up by 50+ mph winds, and deposited as "snirt" (combination of SNow and dIRT I heard the weatherman use). Off to prepare for this afternoon's interview. More later, if
things slow down (or go good).
But before I go - wow - three loads pre-treated, washed, and dried in 2:15. Not too shabby at all, considering I had to collect a great deal of the clothes to get them into the hamper - but to get four working dryers, and have them dry all of the loads, is pretty much unheard of in our laundry room. And with seven washers and ten dryers, it's pretty much a crapshoot. But this, here, is good news. So I'm late getting on the bandwagon - so what? I'm raising a Calvin of my very own, here. Later: Well, this might be the reason it's taken so long. After a comedy of errors that was so completely hosed up, I got to the correct location. 25 minutes late. Fortunately, I had a cell phone and called ahead, both to warn them and to get the RIGHT directions. When I got there (there being 30 miles, 30 minutes, and clear across town from where I was originally told), I found out what this company does. They produce a device which helps people with Cystic Fybrosis (sp?) to expectorate better. I've known people who've had children with this disease; this is more than a lifesaver, it's a whole family quality of life saver. Imagine - three small children, one with CF. Small child #2 is ill, child #1, oldest, bemoans the amount of time the parents spend with the #2 child's therapy, #3 just whines, and #2 doesn't understand why mommy and daddy are upset with her because of something she can't do anything about. This company is not only doing good things, but they're a good place to work. Man, I would LOVE to work there (despite the 30+ minute drive clear across town to do it). She Who Must Be Obeyed says things always happen for a reason. She believes that we were hasty in looking for a house; perhaps we should move a step at a time, get me a job, and then worry about getting the house. We'll look a year or so into the future to see what we can find.
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First off, this morning, in the runnings around that I do, I followed for quite some time (probably fifteen minutes, and at least a half-mile) a Honda CRV. I'm telling you, I would never ever consider one of those rickety contraptions for hauling my family around. I'm no automotive genius, but to watch this vehicle drive down the road and the two drive shafts that are less than an inch thick rolling down the road, and these drive shafts are totally exposed - no way, man. Just no way. Jarring segue number one - I hear that MENSA is in town for their convention. I'd pick on these folks (yes, I passed the test but never bothered to sign up), but I think it's too easy. A convention, in Minnesota, in early November. You people have GOT to be crazy. If you're looking at having a convention people WANT to come to, why on earth bring them to Minnesota at a time when we've got nothing to show off but large malls? Jarring segue number two - I've been watching some of the election foolishness going around - and I don't buy any of the conspiracy theories running around. Frankly, ballot design that is that confusing is probably too much to expect from a governor - doesn't he have better things to do? And as to claims of voter fraud, come on - in most elections there are the occasional mistake. These mistakes loom ever larger because of the tight margin. Two things strike me about the whole election mess - first is that the only winner is the people who voted. Your vote did count. Granted, my votes were split about 50/50 for winners and losers, and Gore won this state going away - Dayton won by a big margin - Ramstad walked over his opponent - Crichton (my mayoral choice) got stomped on by about a 3-2 margin, didn't win a single precinct), but some of my city council and school board preferences were selected. We the people won this one. I don't think either of the candidates did, however. Whoever sits in that office is going to be sitting gingerly - I would not be surprised to see the loser take a second whack at the position in four years - aw, hell, who are we kidding - they'll start campaigning in about a week after the last court challenge is settled, and we will have to put up with a ten billion dollar campaign next time around, instead of this year's three-billion. Sheesh. Second thing about the elections - given the closeness of the votes, and the small but vocal minority who voted third party, you've got to realize that there's very little separating either of these two fellows. I know that my choice wasn't what I'd have preferred - I'd have voted McCain in a cold second versus any of the four major names on the ballot this time around (Bush - Gore - Nader - Buchanan), but he didn't run. It looks pretty obvious that he won't get a chance in four years, and I don't know that he'll be interested in eight or twelve. Maybe they'll get smart next time around. But I doubt it. Jarring segue number three - After yesterday's good interview at a wonderful company, I've got calls to make this morning following up on opportunities still outstanding. Frankly, I'm of the opinion that they might not pan out, but you've got to keep chasing them - you never know when one will fail to come through. Or which individual will have the best job down the road a bit (though I really hope it's not too far down that road). Jarring segue number four - previous employer (two back, sort of, otherwise known as the one that's still paying me) still hasn't sent the promised letters of recommendation. One can always hope they're OK, but given the amount of turmoil at that company, I'm still glad I'm out. No, it's not sour grapes or casting any other sort of foodstuffs. I'm very grateful for the experience I had there. I'm extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity, but I certainly would not put my money on the line with them - given the pressure you have for a return on investment with your own money, investing in a business wherein you rely on individuals who have to go through a great deal of training, certification, and then there's a shortage of these people out there in the marketplace, you've really got to hold on by your fingernails. I think they're probably going to eventually undergo the same sort of consolidation that's going on elsewhere. Some small number of franchisees will end up owning the lions' share of the salons, and that will bring more concessions from the corporate parent, which will in turn reduce the strength of the overall company. The individuals in charge will likely reach a point where they choose to retire, and in that case, the company itself will likely be sold to their biggest competitor (as that is what the other company does is buy chains and groups and allows them to operate pretty much on their own). Enough about them. Jarring segue number five - The ski hill out my back door here has started the snow blasters. Mind you, these have nothing to do with snow removal, nor are they anything Tim Taylor ever had anything to do with on Tool Time, though they definitely look like something Binford would produce for the esteemable Mr. Taylor. These things are basically large turbine fans attached to the wide ends of cones - on the narrow end is a circle of tubes which sprays water into the blast of air coming out the narrow end of the cone. This projects the resulting pellets up about 50-75 feet from the end of the cone, and creates "snow". Now, you've got to realize that our ski "hills" here offer a downhill run of perhaps 30 seconds at a speed of maybe 30 mph. Neither long nor fast. Buck Hill, right out back here, is perhaps 100' above my back porch for a peak, and the end-slope is perhaps 150-200' below. Not a long run. But the snow blasters run all day and night, and create a base. Since I'm not a good skier (I've been on the slopes a few, yes very few, times, and can tell you that I have some expertise in skiing - I know how to fall. Many ways, many different body parts that can strike the snow first - even one's face, if one is so inclined - sorry, bad pun), I cannot comment authoritatively on the snow quality. I do know that one of the best skiing experiences I'd ever had was over in Wisconsin - I'll tell you about it some time, but for now we'll just say a two-and-a-half-hour drive ahead of a snowstorm was most definitely worth it. Anyway, the snow blasters have started, and likely will not shut down for about two or three weeks. Just what I wanted - about 80 turbines howling less than a half-mile from my home. At least if we had leaves still on the trees they'd muffle it a little bit. Segue six - I met my upstairs neighbor Og the caveman last night - I was sitting at my computer, job-hunting away, and suddenly there was very loud pounding from upstairs. Looked at the clock, and it was nearly 9:30 pm. I sat through three bouts of this wall-shaking banging, and then went up stairs. Waited in the hall to see if the pounding would continue, and when it did, I knocked (very politely) on his door. He opens the door, and I quite nearly made skid-marks getting out of there. This bald fellow, about my age, my height, and at least another 100 pounds on him, opens the door, which gives me a nice stinky blast of hot air. Phew - so much for the new carpet up there. I'm fairly sure of the weight estimate, as this fellow was wearing a pair of boxers. I gulped, introduced myself, and asked him to stop the pounding. "uh, but I'm putting together a desk." "Yes, that's fine - I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't be doing the pounding at this time of night, however." "But it's a desk." "I understand that, but the building has rules about loud noises after 8 pm. We've been pretty tolerant, but I'd appreciate it if you could stop the pounding." "Uh, but I'm putting together a desk." "Okay, thanks!" I left. No more pounding. However, I think he's breeding wooly mammoths up there, and not elephants. Segue seven, and hopefully last. I'm still having a heck of a time understanding Sim City 3000. I think it's just that I'm not in the right frame of mood to be playing games right now. A couple of weeks ago, or some weeks from now, maybe. Right now, it's just not clicking. Speaking of clicking, I've got calls to make... And made. I've got more prospects, but I did find one that's right out - project manager position in Madison, WI - great job for me, but it's four and a half hours from here. No closer to Grandma's in Iowa, so that's right bloody out. Time to find more prospects. One of these has got to turn into a day job for me soon, or it's back to "do you want fries with that?" - Yes, I used to work at Wendy's.
And on that note, I should go, but before I do, you really need to look at this one - While this fellow's advocating FOR Bush/Cheney, I'm thinking good Ole' Dubyah might be a bit upset if this is what it takes to win... Later: Now, I know many of you insist on believing that Chocolate isn't a daily dietary requirement. Despite all of the physical AND anecdotal evidence to the contrary. Therefore, I've found these Rules of Chocolate which you can take to heart...
Now, on a serious note. I know that there will be the typical media-based overuse of the term "historic" and "unprecedented". Yeah, that's called life. However, this current situation regarding the election is seriously worrying me. I think that, listening to both sides, they're both sounding increasingly desperate. Whoever wins this election will lose, frankly. But here's three points to ponder - first, if you've noted, Bush's totals were at one point a win by 7,000 votes. His "win" has steadily dropped from there down to 341 as I write this. There's 25 minutes left before they "expect to complete" the recount. Now - not to cast any suspicions on Mr. Bush, but if you've got a legitimate "goofup" in the system, you should see the numbers maintaining roughly the same numbers - Bush should be a certain number up, and stay there. His "lead" has evaporated steadily since they started this. Second point - In West Palm Beach, Pat Buchanan got 3,400 votes; statistically this is a massive fluke - Buchanan got 10 times the votes, statistically, that he did in a nearby neighborhood, which was also twice the size, but of similar make up. SWMBO has access to people who live in/near West Palm Beach, and nearly no one down there likes him, at all. Add that to the 19,000 spoiled ballots, and we've got one hell of a mess. Third, and final point - when you count, and you get a number, then you "recount" and get a different number, which one do you rely on? The first or second? Are you counting, or do you double-check the numbers? If I were in charge of the recount (which, fortunately, I am not), I would take a precinct within a county, and give the ballots to one individual. That individual would count the ballots. The individual would write down a number, and put it in an envelope, clearly identifying the precinct and county on the outside. A supervisor would pick up the ballots and envelope, and deliver the ballots to another individual in another room. They would keep the envelope. The second person would repeat the process. If the first two number counts agreed, 100%, then the precinct would be certified as correct. If the numbers do not agree, you have a third person do the process. And if needed, a fourth, or fifth, until you get at least two who agree. I hope they're verifying the numbers. And in the future, I think those folks ought to use the people who designed the Minnesota ballot - simple, no confusion. Fill in the dot immediately next to the person's name. Three columns. No big deal. Unlikely to spoil when handled. Unlikely to screw up. We need to make ballots GOOF-PROOF, not the other way around. Good grief. And as I've reasoned through this, they've reached 5 PM, and they're no closer to a "final" final count. As Dr. Pournelle says, never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity. Although it occurs to me that instead of inspiring confidence in the "voting public" it's likely to backfire. What's to say that the 19,000 votes in Florida that were "spoiled ballots" weren't a fluke? What happens if every state had an appreciable percentage of screwed up votes? It's somewhat difficult to take a Daley seriously when he stands there discussing "voter fraud". Similarly, it would be difficult to take seriously a "president" who was elected via electoral college voting, rather than winning the popular AND electoral vote. Good grief, indeed. Certainly if this were happening elsewhere in the world it would be noteworthy. However, having it happen in certain areas of the world and the capital would be under seige, angry partisans would be raiding the various government buildings, lighting documents afire, and so forth. The army would likely be standing shoulder-to-shoulder (if they were promised enough) to keep the citizenry from attacking those seats of government still occupied by the "other side". But for crying out loud, this is America - Bush can't lead this country with a loss of the popular vote. If Gore's elected, then we've got a Government that will make recent sessions of "deadlock" look positively progressive. Here's a thought - run up a schedule :
We pair up the president with the other side's VP. They alternate weekdays and Saturdays. On Sunday, we give the third-party folks a whack at it, on the theory that if there's anything serious going on, we've got the first-string (such as it is) in the wings for Monday. We alternate, too - since the Lincoln Bedroom's such a hot hang-out, we put the off-day president and stunt-first-lady in the Lincoln Bedroom for the period - solves the problem of who gets that room. We keep this up until one or the other gets tired of swapping off, and gives up. This beats the hell out of lawyers and other BS. And in the end... Lovely. If the local weather geeks are to be believed, we're sitting at the open end of a very large cannon. We're in line for one of those damned "old fashioned" storms - we call it a "panhandle hook" - the weather shoots down the west coast, then hooks over the southwestern part of the US, and is projected bending north to nail Minnesota starting Saturday night. The good part, if you want to call it that, is that there's a pretty solid blob of really cold weather heading down from Tom's neck of the woods to nail our asses at about the same time. Being a lifelong Minnesotan, I can tell you that this is the kind of thing up with which we will not put, at least not without a couple of hours of shoveling. And the scariest part is I'm hearing a lot of the same statements these people made back in October of 1991 - "we're going to get some snow, but the computers are projecting numbers which we really can't believe. They're talking anywhere from 18-30 inches." Funny, we got that higher number back then. Lovely. So tomorrow I'm going to work over the old vehicle, and see if I can get it moving from one side of the parking lot to the other, and back again. Of course, the gas prices went up 21 cents a gallon today. I don't get that, either. Bastards.
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Sunday Today's going to be a busy get-ready-for-the-storm day. I've learned through my time in purgatory - er, Minnesota - to take weather warnings like this seriously. It's also my Boy Scout training. Be prepared. We don't go outside the metro area too often during the winter, and with a couple of cell phones along, we can usually survive for a period of time. However, you're better off if you're prepared to survive. I remember a couple of years ago I even made coffee-can kits for both vehicles - large candles, lighters, candy bars. I'll have to look up what else was in there - I think I had some black crepe paper or cloth strips for writing in the snow - plus some rocks to hold it down. And if I remember correctly, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank today. The Fitz was one of the biggest ships to sail Lake Superior, and hauled taconite (Iron ore) from northern Minnesota to Michigan to be turned into car parts. The Fitz sank in a November storm that was one of the worst on record on Superior, and the waves in this storm were in excess of thirty-five feet high. Think of a three-story building. Then, imagine it as a wall of water stretching from horizon to horizon, and just to add a little fun, remember that you've got about twelve feet of "freeboard" - side of the boat above calm waters. If you take a seven hundred foot ship and put it between two high points that are thirty or more feet high, and then factor in the part about carrying several hundred thousand tons of very heavy weights, the ship is likely to break it's keel. And that's what is believed to have happened. The ship cracked the keel, which meant that it was difficult, if not impossible, to control. It had reported trouble with it's cargo covers, where the large bins held the ore. If the ship was having problems staying head-on into the waves, and was taking on water, it's not too difficult to understand how the ship might have turned sideways, flipped, and sank. When they found the actual wreckage some years ago, the stern portion of the ship was upside down on the floor - a ways away they found the bow of the ship, right side up, in the silt. The damage along the break line indicated that the ship broke apart on the surface, and went down nearly immediately. Twenty nine good men died in that. I'm not sure if you've ever heard Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" but it's a very well-done and haunting song that commemorates the disaster. And disaster it was. Today, with the advances in technology, knowledge, and shipbuilding, the same thing would likely happen. Only this time, we'd know exactly where the wreckage was. The problem didn't lie in any fault of any single individual on the Fitz, in the Coast Guard, or in the people who built the ship - it was the fault of that great big inland sea we call Lake Superior. Many, many men (and women) have lost their lives on that body of water, and the bottom line is that the lake DEMANDS respect. A few years ago I had the opportunity to travel to Ironwood, Michigan. This little town in the upper peninsula of Michigan (they call themselves "Youpers" up there) was just across the border from Wisconsin, and had one hellacious winter. You see, they were on the south side of Lake Superior. After a very warm summer, they noted that the lake water temperature was very warm compared to normal. Now, one thing you really don't want to do if you don't own a snowblower is live on the south side of a large lake, which has very warm water temperatures when they're predicting a colder-than-normal winter. Ask anyone in Buffalo, New York. Anyway, this town was a couple of miles inland from the lake. When I first arrived there in early November for a two-day visit, they had three feet of snow. We hadn't had any in Minneapolis when I left. It was somewhat intimidating. The snow was literally piled quite high - I remember talking to one lady in her office - "That's cute," I said, pointing at a stick standing
straight up out of a pile of snow outside her window. Actually, that trip wasn't too bad. The second, about a week and a half before Christmas, was terrifying - imagine snow piled so high you couldn't see people walking on the sidewalks. They had tunnels, in some places, on the sidewalks. The hospital was a ways outside town (they had a sign in the emergency department that said "please remove ski boots here - the reception area has spare sandals for those who need them."). I remember seeing a very large truck with a snowblower on the front going down the sidewalks. He would scoop up about a half-block or so of snow, which would fill his truck and three others, then take off. Then a second snowblower would arrive, and start the process with the next half-block. I spent three days there, and was pretty fed up with the snow. It was pretty, but expensive. Sort of like owning a pool in this sort of climate. As to the election, I've got to admit, the ballot isn't all that confusing if you READ CAREFULLY. I wonder if this is the test Dr. Pournelle had in mind? Perhaps it IS a test... And I've decided to quit whining about the damned job hunt. It will come. There are others, who have a more difficult time than I, who are a heck of a lot tougher. LATER: That's it. Regarding the election, I want a do-over. From the top. I want John McCain against who-the-hell-cares, and I'll vote for McCain. The current candidates suck, and haven't got the maturity you need. In this particular situation, we should also require every single precinct to use non-punched ballots - get a damned pencil and fill in the dots, don't waste time with this punch crap or flipping levers. Once you've completed your ballot, you go to the election judge, and get VERIFIED that your ballot isn't spoiled. Then shove it in the slot and it's done. If your ballot is spoiled, then you get another one. No questions, no screwing around. Too bad we can't do this. On a positive note, I did figure out how to get SimCity 3K working, and even found a few cheats for it. The old capital "F-U-N-D-S" trick didn't work, but I did discover that you can basically get everything for free - then it's just a matter of making sure you've got your taxes high enough to pay for what you're placing. And I seem to be doing pretty well so far.
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Sunday I remember when I was in High School, we got a very weird request, one day. The local VFW posts had asked a couple of local high schools if they could supply a pair of drummers for a parade. I'd studied the history books, and we'd managed to cover the important parts - how the conflict started, how it reached a point where there was standing trench warfare, how the United States joined the conflict after our shipping was attacked, how the war ended, and how it set very very clear reasons for bringing on World War II. That experience was perhaps the most miserable of my life. While I usually played the "tripples," which are three different-sized drums laying flat in front of you (think of them as marching tympani, but smaller, with no wheels), they didn't need that so I got out the big bass drum - about 30 pounds or so. We marched the same route as the Memorial Day parade, which was about a mile, give or take, and had to do it in the cold, wet, nasty, stinging rain. In heavy wool uniforms. Knowing now what I didn't know then, it was a pretty poor effort on my part. Occasionally I'll drive past the Fort Snelling cemetery near here - it's the military cemetery near an airport, ringed by multi-lane freeways and runways, unfortunately - not exactly a place of quiet, restful contemplation. But to see the acre upon acre of white tombstones, laid out in straight lines, and it still sobers me. We've benefited in this country by the sacrifice of others. While many of them are gone, some are still here, and we should honor them while they're still around. And maybe, just maybe, we'll take the time to remember that we were once a pretty noble country, with high dreams and aspirations, and composed of people who believed in doing the right thing, no matter the cost, or how it would appear to others. And this is especially true in the case of Florida right now. As Dr. Pournelle says, no one would have believed this as a plot for a book. I have a tough time believing it myself. I have serious questions about how things were done there, and while it occurs to me that in many areas of this country, there was likely a similar problem with the very first quick count, the end result is pretty clear - Al Gore won the popular vote, while George Bush won (or is winning) the electoral college vote. What we need is a law outlawing punch-hole ballots, as they are the most likely to spoil in repeated handling. We need a law which CLEARLY defines what is a spoiled ballot, and perhaps a method for people to determine if their ballot is valid before submitting it for a count. While I am certain that it will do nothing for this time around, I'm sick to death of this election, and was before the whole thing started. To have it all fall upon Florida, which apparently is headed for the status of "New Chicago" in election "irregularities," and where the man who is likely to benefit most is the brother of the governor is, to me, an extremely unsettling situation. We need to remember that in this country, we're often watched by the rest of the world. As I heard a number of times yesterday, if this had happened elsewhere, there's a significant chance that the capitol would be ringed with troops, there would be riots in the streets, and we would have significant civil unrest. At the moment, all we've got is a stock market with the jitters, a very stressed-out population, and two gentlemen who haven't got the mandate, nor the manners, to govern. Freedom isn't free, and it seems that it is again time to pay the price - this time, not so much in blood as in one fellow's aspirations. While I would love to see Bush step aside for Gore, I don't think it's going to happen. I think Gore would be well-advised at this point to bow to the will of the electoral college (most definitely NOT the will of the people), and step aside. Although I do note that a number of sites I read daily have said that the abolishment of the Electoral college would give less influence to smaller-vote-totaled states. Really? How's that? I would think that it would be the opposite - you cannot afford, if every single vote counts, to ignore those votes. Certainly, New York, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and California would be battleground states. However, what about the situation where you have to fight for every single precinct? Not just the metro centers, etc? I've a friend, former Mayor of Montevideo, Minnesota. They didn't get a single candidate come anywhere near the place during this election. Bush, I believe, hit Duluth in addition to the Twin Cities. Certainly Minnesota's no huge electoral prize, but every single vote cast is worth something, instead of fighting for the large states, and ignoring states like the Dakotas, etc. I think that we're rapidly approaching the point where one of these two will have to say "uncle." I could live with either one of these men in the White House - I can assure you that no matter who moves in there, he'd best be looking for another house - the "loser" in this election will hear a great sucking sound in two years as the seats for their party come up for election in the House and Senate - there are plenty of people who were on the fence to the last minute, who will not be in the next election. Someone's going to end up feeling cheated in this election, and I can't help but believe that it's all of us. This is just getting to a point where we've got to do something. I like Pournelle's suggestion - dump Lieberman and Cheney, and (my addition to the thought) let the man with the highest popular vote total serve as president. Let Mr. Second-Place fill that second slot. This way we'd get something done. If Bush occupies the White House, Liberman is part of the 50/50 tie in the Senate. Combine that with a very slim minority in the house, and not a damned thing moves for two years. Then the Democrats take over most of the open/contested seats, and Gore wins election for President in 2004. Bush becomes yet another footnote in history - an ineffective one-term president, son of another president. Got some good, yet weird, news yesterday... I've got a second interview on Tuesday at the cool place, and there's another company, also clear across town, that's also interested in me - which would be a big raise, which I'd like. I did have a phone interview for one position - CIO/COO of a company, no less - but at almost half of my current salary, plus a little bit more with the addition of stock options, that's really really bad. I'm a little concerned about a company that's willing to hire someone sight-unseen, and given the speed at which they're looking to move, no thank you at all. Good grief. Today's the day we start, and hopefully move, the old car around - it's supposed to snow starting tonight, and we're expecting between three and five inches, though we're hearing the same sorts of indecision that we did with the Halloween blizzard nine years ago. The problem with applying technology to weather is that there are so many variables to evaluate, and I don't think they're taking all of them into account. Once we finally figure out how to accurately forecast weather, maybe we can start looking to control it a little. Like easing off on the blizzards. Oh, well.
Well, we need to do breakfast, then the car. If successful, perhaps we'll spend some time at the zoo this afternoon (it's free, thank goodness, and close to home), a stop at the store for last-minute supplies, then home for dinner and hunkering down. Fill the tanks on both cars, and put the blankets back into the trunks for the duration. I love winter - NOT. But I want to end today's post on a laugh - did you hear that CBS is doing the casting for the next version of Survivor (S3) already? This one could be perhaps the most dangerous one yet. They're going to pick ten people, put them in a VW Microbus, give them $500, and have them drive through Texas. Oops. I almost forgot - the VW will have a sign on that says "WE ARE GAY DEMOCRATIC VEGETARIANS FOR GUN CONTROL." All survivors win - and could, perhaps, be the next president. LATER: Well, errands run, and other tasks done, we know a lot more now than we did before. The Cougar is RIP - lovely. I'd been paying insurance on it for the last six months. We'll be canceling that come Monday, and also seeing what I can do about either getting someone to pay me to take the vehicle, or donate it to the fine folks at the Dakota County Vocational/Technical Institute. That should be fun. We did stop at a little place called "Roland's Ribs" for a lunchtime snack - wow. This fellow's good. Actually, let me rephrase that - wonderful. I'm not what you'd call a culinary adventurer - I infinitely prefer knowing what I'm getting before I get it. And frankly, I didn't know squat about Roland nor what he did to his ribs, or anything elses' before feeding them to us. And now, frankly, I don't care. I just want to go back. We also stopped for groceries. Funny thing. A few years ago, I would look at young ladies in cheerleader outfits and admire what was there. Today, while at the Grocery store, the Minnesota Cheerleading All-Stars were bagging groceries. I took one look at these girls, in their cheerleader outfits, and realized that I was most definitely getting old. First, their skirts were too short, and my daughter would never be caught in one of them (yah, right). Second, I was embarrassed to see them wandering around the store like that. Gawd, I'm getting old. After that stop, we returned to a Great Clips salon for haircuts for the kids. Apparently, we were desperate. A fifty minute wait was pretty long, so we went to the grocery store after putting our names in; they did do a fairly good job of cutting the kid's hair, even if they didn't do squat along the lines of what they're supposed to do. I should abuse those folks I still know working there and see if they'll laugh. Doubtful. Once you're out, you're out. But at least the non-starting vehicle is inside, the good vehicle is outside, with a full tank of gas, and we're ready for what tonight/tomorrow will bring. Supposedly, a whole heck of a lot of snow. Oh - did I mention that we also managed to do some shopping for The Monkey King's birthday? Yup, he hits the big oh-four come Wednesday. Should be a small riot - especially if the party includes (as we hope) a job for dear old Dad... Which will come. I firmly believe it. Although I'm reminded of what one wit said, many years ago - the problem with being unemployed is that you can't really take a day off. Then again, I'm still healthy, and marginally sane. Although sometimes I wonder. I was thinking today that of all the things that I really crave, certainty is probably the most important to me. I started to think about some of the people I worked with in the computing field, and pretty much all of them are fairly similar - not a bungee jumper in the bunch. I think it comes from working with computers. We know that computers do exactly what we tell them to do; unfortunately, the last time I had the experience of a computer doing what I told it to do and the computer did what I expected it to do was when I was working on a VAX. Pretty much every single day since then, I've been surprised in one way or another by these damned machines. Sometimes pleasantly, but more often nastily. Oh well. I saw at Target when we were there they had a bunch of
DVDs on sale for under ten... Lady Hawke... Purple Rain (for
SWMBO)... I want I want I want... But I can wait. If
we get a decent raise out of the job hunt, I will be getting a new VCR
(the old one might well be on the fritz) and a TV-connected DVD player
for Christmas. And, perhaps, a new TV, says SWMBO. But I've
got to get off me duff and get employed quick-like... Which I
will, I firmly believe.
And before I leave, from the fine folks at WCCO - the forecast. Winter storm watch late tonight and Sunday. However, on KARE 11 (the one I usually watch, even though the weekend weather woman is about as stupid as they come when it comes to her use of the language - I just tell friends that it's actually Wisconsin English, not real American English, and they should leave it at that... ;-) Anyway, she says Today's Detailed Forecast I don't know about you, but I don't like it. At all. I'd rather be in Vegas. Oh well. Someday.
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Sunday Well. Last night, as I watched the news, they backed off from the dire predictions of snow in our area. We will still get "something" but they're not sure what. I've learned in my years here that we cannot assume these weather geeks are completely off-base, any more than we can assume the average computer geek is completely off-base. As noted above, guessing the weather is something like supporting Microsoft's latest OS offering - you gets what you gets, and when you find a "funny" you call Microsoft, only to be told "oh, yeah - download the latest service pack." Seems they're a little less than... well, let's just say I'd rather work with computers. When a computer acts up, you can, at worst case, replace the damned thing. You can't replace the weather you don't like. Looks like other parts of the country are getting hammered, instead. While some of that's fine with me, the bottom line is that we tend not to take the first storm of the year all that seriously - just look at rush hour. I think the figure I've seen quoted is something like thirty times the normal number of accidents during our first rush-hour after the first snowstorm. Figuring that our normal rush hour around here includes about ten accidents on average, that puts it up to three hundred. And there's usually two or three lives lost during that time. So hey, if you're driving in one of those snowy areas, slow down, increase your following distance, don't do anything stupid, and remember, if you're in a Sport Utility Vehicle, most of them are just jumped-up cars - definitely not up to REAL off-road work. And, as my friend who is working to someday become an off-road expert will tell you, most off-roaders go SLOW, not fast. She spent a week traveling over rough ground (boulders the size of houses, etc.), and used less than a half-tank of gas. So take it easy - someone, somewhere, is waiting for you to get back home. Don't mess that one up. Here endeth the lesson... </LESSON> On the election front, at the moment, I'm so very disgusted with this whole thing that I'm tempted to emigrate. Where, I dunno - someplace warmer and nicer than here, certainly. We've got two different groups who are sitting across the table from one another - one saying "let's get an accurate count" and the other saying "no, the will of the people has been determined!" Howinhell can they tell? The longer this goes on, the more disgusted I'm getting with Bush in general. Of course, after everything else we've done this morning, I'm militantly ambivalent. I could tell you a hundred stories about church this morning, but let's just say that Jack was actually napping - put it this way; put Tigger on speed, and that's about 50% of Jack normal. Usually sitting still for Jack is a whole five seconds, if you're lucky. But today, the kid was just leveled. He's got a cough that sounds very much like an old Pontiac I once had... I'm not sure Jack's got a water pump to replace, but I'd consider it for the little guy if I thought it would help. Rhiannon, thank the stars, is playing over at a friend's house this afternoon, and is probably enjoying herself greatly. Then again, I can't really think of when she hasn't. Anyway; today, I'm going to take some time to quietly reflect on what's coming down the pike for me... Sounds like three or four interviews this week, and some are good positions with great companies, and some are great positions with good companies. I need to sort out what's more important to me; financial security or working for a company that does a greater good. Ah, to have that sort of dilemma again. I guess I finally understand why the electoral college is a little more logical - both SWMBO and Mr. Thompson have leant logical arguments to me (SWMBO by using her superior knowledge of Political Science, and by stating clearly, in a quiet voice, "what was my major in college?" Since mine wavered between girls, beer, pizza, and money, along with a generously-sized helping of "messing with VAX 101" I can honestly say "Uh, not mine, dear." and backpedal. Fast). Mr. Thompson points out that the fine folks in New York City, who, in my humble opinion, occasionally need to be reminded that there is a "rest of the country" off to their left in the map, outnumber the population of many of the smaller states. This is why the Electoral college was created. So that part certainly makes sense. I just wish there was a way to hammer out the kinks on this whole thing and get back to the true nature of democracy - a bunch of people standing in the middle of the town square, discussing various issues at the tops of their lungs. Of course, some will insist we lack the intelligence to pull that one off, and others will demand that we supply chairs, megaphones, and other forms of mechanical assistance for those who can't scream at the tops of their lungs as loud as some of the others of us. And then... Oh, bah. No matter what happens in this whole situation, someone's going to feel cheated. Someone's going to GET cheated, it looks like, as well. Given the numbers we're dealing with, there's really no way to holler "DO-OVER." But damnit, this is beginning to look less like a presidential election and more like a Mexican Standoff - not at all like a Minnesota Standoff (that's where you get four cars at a four-way stop, and they're all waving at eachother - "you go ahead - no, YOU"). As a plot for a novel, this sucks. As a real-life exercise in political science, it stinks. As an election, it's a very bad sign. It's really unfortunate that neither side really energized their people to the point of getting out enough of the vote to make it a decisive win. Bah. Feh. Phooey. Rats. Etc. It's not enough uncertainty in my life that I deal with computers - we now have to wonder which flavor of idiot will occupy that funky-shaped office for the next four years. Makes me yearn for a more stable political environment. Like Italy. ;-). Later: Well. We've fallen into the trap of watching "Ed" on Sunday nights. It's quirkier than Letterman's normal schtick yet somehow touching. So, tonight, Ed throws together the "Festival of Ducks" to save the town's star in some guide or another (I was working on New Jack City 3, New Jack City 2 having gone corrupt - no, not the administration, but the whole damned file - ouch, I had over a million in the treasury, which hurt like the dickens - New Jack City 1 went bankrupt completely through my not knowing how the hell to manage a city - gee, like that's a skill I'm gonna need dealing with computers). Anyway, SWMBO says "should we all pack up, move to Maquoketa,
and have a festival of Ducks?" To which my eldest, bless her
heart, said "No!" And as to why not? She wanted to
make sure I wasn't nibbled by ducks. First; I've never been bitten
by a duck, goose, or any similarly-billed creature; second, I'm getting
nibbled to death by ducks day in and day out - what difference does the
location make?
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But I'm going to drive you nuts, first...
You are supposed to count the black dots. Can you see all of
them? I'm gettting a headache just looking at this thing.
Ouch.
Shit.
On an un-positive note, they're threatening us with the heavy snow
band. Looks like it will start in western Iowa and shoot straight
for us - we're on the southern side of the heavy snow band, which is
never good - could be freezing rain, which will play merry hell with the
roadways. And then they're saying that there will be a warm air
mass to the east of us which will perhaps be blowing warm air back at us
towards the tail end of the storm - which will likely put a freezing
crust on the snow, and make it interesting. Oh well. To the
right is a picture off my balcony of the snow we have now. I'll
put up another one as soon as the storm ends... And someday I'll
get DSL so I can point my webcam out the window, and win the lottery,
and ... Oh well, we can all dream, right?
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P. Dominik. All rights reserved.
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