Archive for November, 2004
11/1/2004
A lot of stuff happened today:
I went to get my piss test (a.k.a. urine drug test) for werk today. Since I just got offered a position, this is a mandatory thing. Those who work for a living are very familiar with this process. Each time you get a new job you have to do it.
The piss test was easy. Getting to the lab where it’s done was the hard part. I was given directions for where to go at werk today and off I went. Couldn’t find the place which really pissed me off (no pun intended). Drove back to werk. Told the manager. Manager said “I’ll find someone who knows where this place is.” Got someone who explained in better detail where the place was. Off I went again. Found the place. Got the test. Done deal. Back to werk.
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I decided to drive the truck to werk today because I don’t want to take any tread off of my new snow tires on the Alero until it’s cold outside. Right now it isn’t cold. So I drove the truck to werk. And I drove it around looking for the piss test place. I got all that crap done.
The werk day came to an end and I started to drive home. The oil light came on and this unbelievably rappy noise came from the engine: RAP-BRAP-BRAP-BRAP-BRAP-BRAP.. “Oh.. shit” I said to myself. I immediately pulled into a gas station, ran inside and bought a quart of oil. Then I called my father: “You better get here and follow me home, this truck sounds bad.”
Pop arrives. I have him listen to the engine. “Better put in another quart” he says. So I do. I let the truck idle for a few minutes. No luck. Brap-rap-rap-rap-rap.. “Well, I gotta try to get this thing home” I said. So off we went.
I was sure as anything that the engine was going to seize. Miraculously, it didn’t. I drove it for about 1/2 a mile, then the oil light went out, the check engine light came on, then it went out - and all the noises disappeared. Yep, it was oil - or rather the lack of it in the engine which was causing the problem. Truck runs great now. Got it all the way home without a problem, and I’ll be taking it again to werk tomorrow.
So remember kids - always change your oil, often. :-)
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11/2/2004
I’m able to put the custom colors on most parts of this site. You’ll notice that right now the custom choices don’t work on the search part or the comments part - but I’m working on that. (grin)
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11/2/2004
Just realized today that I’ve been officially blogging for over 7 months now. darn. Don’t think I’ve ever put this much effort into a web site before. I know that there are those out there who have been blogging a lot longer.. but I still consider this an achievement for me. A good one. (grin)
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11/2/2004
My father and I just got back from voting. In typical fashion, he voted Democrat. I voted Republican. It’s a small joke we have that our votes “cancel each other out” every year. (grin) Regardless, we did our duty as citizens with the right to choose.
Also, very nice turnout at the polls. Nice to see that.
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11/3/2004
Ya know, in the morning I don’t ask for much. I just want to be able to get to werk, finish up the day and go home. One thing that completely turns me off something fierce is when the cafeteria here makes things the WRONG WAY.
Example: A breakfast burrito. Very simple to make. My version of it (which I tell the cook specifically) is:
1) Take one egg
2) Put it in a bowl/scramble
3) Put it on the iron
4) Take ham, cut to strips
5) Place it on the iron next to the egg
6) Take mushrooms
7) Place it on iron next to egg
8) Wait about 45 seconds
9) Place 2 (not 1) slices of American cheese on the egg
10) Get a wrap, like a cheddar wrap
11) Put the egg flat on the wrap
12) Put the ham on the egg
13) Put the mushroom on the ham
14) WRAP IT TIGHTLY
Done. Takes less than 2 minutes to make.
Some idiot was cooking today.. a young kid. Must’ve not been more than 19 or 20. I told him the following “One egg, ham, mushroom and American cheese on a cheddar wrap.” Sounds simple, right? He fucked it all up. And yeah, I bitched to his boss about it.
The last thing I need when I get to werk is to have my breakfast, which I pay for, made wrong. I ate the stupid thing, I had to because I was late getting to my desk to begin with.
There is absolutely no room for incompetence as far as cooks are concerned. Cooks should do things the right way, the same way, every time. No one likes surprises when they’re paying for food - including myself.
Maybe someday I will find a good wife who will make me breakfast so I don’t have to deal with this SHIT. Ugh.
[--edit--]
Some additional thoughts on this:
The above is why I cannot stand restaurants. I absolutely hate them. It is so rare to get a good meal out of one of those places these days. The plain fact of the matter is that if you want your food done your way to your liking, you have to make it yourself. The only exception to this rule is when you have someone cook for you who knows what you like, but that takes time obviously. And I hate waiting. (grin)
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11/3/2004
Been doing some fiscal calculations today in an attempt to estimate when I will have some big bills paid in full. I recommend this to anyone because you should calculate how long it will take to pay off something. Whether your calculated results please you or make you want to slit your wrists, you should do it. The reason for doing it is to get a glimmer of the “light at the end of the tunnel” so to speak. (grin)
If you go through my previous posts here, the last big bill I spoke about was the car. I said I would have it paid off in September ‘04. I got it paid off a month early in August ‘04. While that hit my wallet pretty hard, I am very happy not to have that darn car payment. It was worth it, completely.
My next (and last for now) two big bills are the credit card and what I call a “back” bill. Those who know me personally know what that’s about. (grin) And no it has nothing to do with my back, or anyone else’s back.
I have calculated the time it will take to pay off the credit card and back bill. A very optimistic payoff estimate is April 2005 and the worst-case-scenario estimate is August 2005. So.. the final payoff date will be somewhere between April and August ‘05. Maybe June. Maybe not. I dunno. All I do know is that the payoff date is several months away (at least six). During this time I may encounter unexpected financial drawbacks. Then again I may not. It’s all a big adventure, in’t it? (grin)
What I’m hoping I don’t do is make any unnecessary purchases. A lot of my friends and people I know have fallen into this trap. The trap is “Hey, I got some money. I know I got bills to pay but I’m going to spend it on something else anyway.. because after all, you only live once.”
Yes, you only live once. But that lifespan happens over a period of time. Those who waste what they have now have nothing later. How many times have you known someone who has said “Man, I never should’ve bought that [insert useless thing here]” at one point or another? Yep, that person bought a useless thing. Usually a useless expensive thing. Now they’re stuck with it. Bleah.
Granted, there are times when you have to treat yourself, that much is obvious. You can’t go through life always saving. You have to spend. My mother once said “Money is for spending.” That is a very true statement. We spend money all the time, and you either spend it on stuff or bills. When spending money on bills, I think one of the greatest feelings in the world is when you get anything paid in full. Every time I get to do that, I smile. It’s a great feeling of achievement.
That “Yes I paid my bills” feeling is something I really like. It makes you happy and relieved at the same time. The bigger the bill is, the happier you are when it’s paid. For several years (years?!?!!!) now I’ve been doing the monthly payment thing, over and over and over, for the same things. The car was one. The credit card is another. The back bill is the third. One’s down, two more to go.
After I get those last two paid (and I will), the only question will be… do I get a house? I dunno, after going back to zero do I really want to get stuck with a 20-year mortgage payment? Tough decision, truly. Guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
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11/3/2004
Ya know, I come across something every now and zen that makes me say to myself “darn, that’s a good idea.”
Here’s good idea of the century: Piss Beer. This is a real beer, just a standard lager - made in Australia. darn funny, darn awesome, and kudos to the originators for having the balls to push a product like this. F’in awesome.
I will be buying a hat. (grin)
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11/7/2004
Bought a new 19-inch monitor today. Didn’t have to, but wanted one. I just sent off a big payment for my credit card so I treated myself. I got a ViewSonic A91f+.
I actually had a good reason to ditch my old 17-inch. My previous monitor, a Philips, was a big disappointment. It “bows” (pronounced ‘boh-s’) on the bottom left. Hate that so it had to go. (grin)
This monitor was bought from CompUSA. Why did I go there (because I rarely buy from a computer store)? I wanted to physically see the monitor work before I brought it home. I saw it work. Looked okay. I bought it.
I paid $200 (after I get the rebate check) for this. My only complaints are as follows:
1) A tad fuzzy - enough for me to notice, but that’s the way these 19’s are. I’m running 1280×1024 resolution and I can see the fuzzies just a little bit. Were I running something lesser for resolution it would be crystal clear. Fortunately the fuzzies are not enough to distract me from doing work on this thing.
2) Colors aren’t as vibrant as the Philips. Again, this is to do with it being a 19-inch monitor and the fact I’m running 1280 resolution.
Why I blame resolution for lack of color and slight fuzzies:
Windows is simply not meant to run on any resolution above 1152×864 (not well anyway). When you do, fonts look different (because you have to increase the size else you can’t read them,) and picture rendering is different. There are those who would say “No, no.. everything is the same at just a higher res.” Wrong. My eyes don’t see that. I have seen this occur in every version of Windows ever made. For some reason, the higher you go, the worse it looks. Then the next version of Windows comes out and everything is fixed (groan).
I blame res problems on Windows itself because my vid card is fine and programmed properly and the monitor has absolutely nothing wrong with it. Maybe if I spent 300 bucks more I’d get the clarity of a Philips, but I’m not about to spend $500+ on a monitor. Screw that.
I’m sure the next version will be more accommodating to higher resolutions. XP in its current state isn’t. But what ya gonna do. :-(
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11/8/2004
After messing around with the settings for a while, I’ve found that increasing the resolution then bumping up the font size makes things a lot easier. I’m now running 1600×1200 resolution with 2 “bumped” font sizes in Firefox.
This I’ve found concerning the internet in general: A lot of sites (a ton of them) are programmed wrong. They definitely do not accommodate larger resolutions. Everything is really really tiny (where changing the font size doesn’t help) or it’s image based and you can’t change anything at all. That sucks. But fortunately sites like Yahoo and GMail do accommodate - you can just increase the font size easily with FireFox using by holding Ctrl and pressing the plus key (minus key to decrease size).
As a matter of fact I had to change the menus on the right because the calendar thing went “over the border” when I bumped up the font size. Ooooopsie. (grin)
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11/8/2004
Two posts ago I said the monitor I just bought was fine. It isn’t. The monitor is crap. I was completely wrong in my last post (except for the picture rendering thing which is true.) I have an –OLD– 21-inch Gateway VX1110 monitor here at werk. It goes up to 1600×1200 res - no fuzzies whatsoever. I’m staring at this old Gateway monitor and thinking to myself “My new one should be WAY clearer than this.”
So back it’s going. I will be doing this either tonight or next week. I’d rather deal with my bowed 17-inch Philips than a fuzzy 19-inch. Either way this fucking sucks.
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