today is friday. i skipped work. i watched the price is right. i brewed beer. i fixed my grill. i drank tequila. I played Xbox360. it was everything i thought it could be, and more.
i did this because next week is potentially going to sux. my fellow server dude at work is going to be on vacation for a week, so anything that would fall on him, will probably fall on me instead. i hate that. this week sucked too. i figured today was a good opportunity to skip work and do my stuff, and chill out, which is always therapeutic. it was.
i have a job where i really dont do much at all. i sort of get paid to sit there and do nothing and wait for something to break. a lot of people dream for the day where they have a job where they make some decent cash, and do nothing all day, but let me tell you, its not all its cracked up to be. sure, i have the internets, but after a year or two, that gets really old, and you run out of shit to look at. you think its a good opportunity to learn, but then you learn a lot of stuff, then that gets old. it fucks with your head, and its quite difficult. i go home sometimes so mentally exhausted that i can't stand it, having done absolutely nothing. just yesterday i wondered if i could stare at the fucking ceiling for 10 minutes straight and do nothing else. turns out i could. it is like being in prison, with only a computer.
i have considered taking up smoking as a way to break the monotony if the days, but that is detrimental to my health, so its a bad plan.
i would like to retire. i dont have enough money, but if i did, i would never work anywhere ever again. i know a lot of people claim you would get bored real quick, and run out of shit to do, but that has already happened to me, so i am prepared to deal with it. i could certainly find plenty of shit to keep me busy if i didnt have to sit at a fucking desk all day doing nothing.
i got joy, true joy, out of eating a bowl of chocolately delight special k with almond milk, and watching the price is right, and chatting up some old friends this morning, and i was truly happy doing it, and i suspect it would never get old. sure, i might switch up the type of cereal every now and again for variety, but it seems to not take much to keep my occupied and happy.
i just wish i could get into that happy zone at work somehow, but i can't seem to. i dont mind being there, but literally doing nothing for weeks on end makes weird shit happen in my brain. I have the strangest thoughts sometimes.
anyway, this is retarded and rambling, probably due to tequila. i found jimmy buffett tequila in the 1.75 litre bottle for only 29 bux. with one pint, i made Tequila Por Mi Amante:
http://www.slashfood.com/2008/06/14/raising-the-bar-tequila-por-mi-amante/
the rest i plan to just poor down me gullet.
Oh, woe is me
Such a burden to be
Oh, poor twisted me
Friday, June 20, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
In case you are a new reader, I received a speeding citation back in February. You can read about it here:
http://a0001718.blogspot.com/2008/02/this-past-saturday-i-was-en-route-to-my.html
and here:
http://a0001718.blogspot.com/2008/02/quick-update-plot-thickens-so-i-called.html
I was on "deferred disposition" for 90 days, which is sort of like probation. Don't get any other tickets for 90 days, and the original ticket magically disappears from existence. I knew the 90 days anniversary had come, so it was time to go turn in my documents, and get the case closed. I knew the 90 days date was June 3rd, because I remember the lady writing it on my paperwork. Since the office I have to take the paperwork to is across town, and I do my daily commuting on my motorbike, I decided to wait until a rainy day when I would already be in my truck, or at least until a day when I would be going to that side of town anyway. My brother and I have a system of taking each other to lunch on or around our respective birthdays, so this would provide a good opportunity to do the paperwork at the same time. Perfect. Also, by freak luck, it was supposed to rain that day. Three birds with one stone? Perhaps.
So a couple of days prior, I pull out the paperwork, which I had stored in my truck so I couldn't lose it, to make sure there is nothing I need to bring with me or to make sure I sign anything that needs signage. I read the verbiage carefully and notice one key phrase in a sentence in the middle of a paragraph.
"You must appear on the above stated date".
Uh oh! June 3rd. Damn it. It was the afternoon of the 6Th. Son of a whore! Mother bitches! I read the document a few more times to make sure I understood, and it had this same phrasing not once, but twice on the page. It went on to say that if you fail to appear on the date shown, that the citation will then count as a conviction on your driving record, and the fee will be 'receipted', whatever that means. Holy assfuck! Now what the H E double hockey sticks am I gunna do?!
I figure since it is Friday and I already missed the date, that I was just fucked, so waiting a few more days wouldn't hurt. I seemed to recall seeing that phrasing worded differently on the same type of paperwork, so I felt confused. I had been on deferred disposition once before in another county for speeding several years ago, and I know that it was a 'any time after 90 days' kind of deal, so I guess I just assumed that was the way it worked. I guess assuming in this case was a bad plan. I dig some digging as I had before I turned in the paperwork and found a very similar looking document on their web page, with one slight difference. The paperwork on the website said "after 90 days" rather than the must appear on the date jargon from the paperwork they gave me. Shit.
So I spent Friday through Tuesday worrying about how to deal with the scenario. I was going by what had stuck in my head because of what the website said, rather then what was on the document they gave me. I went through all the various excuses in my head over and over again. I can get a little obsessive about planning ahead in scenario such as this. By Sunday night, I had just arrived at the conclusion that it was retarded to worry, because whatever was going to happen would happen, and I couldn't possibly deal with it until that time. Still, doesn't hurt to have a few catch phrases prepared. I figured that I would just hand it to them and see what they say. If they ask why I didn't come on that day, I would just explain that their website had conflicting data, and that they should fix it, and if they still were going to be dicks about it, I would deal with that when the time comes.
Then when Tuesday rolled around, and is grew closer to time to go do it, I just got this overwhelming doom feeling. I was feeling like some sort of criminal for not going on the right day. But, this was just a traffic ticket, it was harmless. Worst case scenario, it goes in the books as a conviction for 15 miles an hour over the limit. Big deal. I don't speed very much, and I have only gotten one other speeding citation in my adult life, so this was nothing.
I went to lunch with my brother and told him my story about the ticket, and asked his opinion. I showed him the paperwork. His opinion was that the paperwork was quite clear in saying it had to be THE day, and that the paper work they gave me, should trump anything on the website. He was probably right. Damn it all down to hell!
So I go over to the office after lunch. My stomach was turning and it was full of barbecue, and I had to take huge crap, so that didn't help matters any. I approach the window. The lady notices me there and asks if I need any help. I tell her I need to turn in my deferred paperwork. She takes my papers and flips through them a few times, then walks away. Now my heart starts beating quickly, and I feel like I am just about to freak the fuck out. She comes back a few seconds later with a red folder, and open it up. She asks me if I had gotten any more tickets within the 90 days, and I say no. She says OK, and asks me to sign one line on the page. I do. She says OK.
...
Silence. Silence that seemed to be 3, maybe 4 hours long. It was really about 2 seconds.
...
I finally say "Is that it?". She says "Yup, that's it." OK. cool. I turn around and walk out. And it was over.
This is where I should be happy and relieved, and on some levels I was, but on others, not. Sure I was glad that whole thing was over and done. But I was unhappy that I had spent so many days and night worried about the stupid thing. It would have been better to just say fuck it, and just chill until there was something to unchill about. It seems like a better way to live would be to cast aside any negative feelings, and just go with the flow. In this particular scenario, I should have put no thought into it at all, until I handed the lady the paper, and she asked why I didn't show up on the day I was supposed to. In my line of work, that's kind of my bread and butter. I deal with servers, and until a server breaks, you just chill. Then when something breaks, and hundreds if not thousands of people cannot function, and the pressure is, then you break out your bad self, and its go time. I am good at what I do, having to do so under extreme pressure, and I see no reason at all why I could not apply that technique to other facets on my life. So, from here on out, that is what I intend to do. I also encourage everyone else to make an attempt to be more laid back, and let life happen, and then kick in your mojo when the situation calls for it.
"Let's go to fucking Hawaii and get drunk in the sun; I wanna lie on Waikiki, and get a terrible burn."
~The Young Canadians.
http://a0001718.blogspot.com/2008/02/this-past-saturday-i-was-en-route-to-my.html
and here:
http://a0001718.blogspot.com/2008/02/quick-update-plot-thickens-so-i-called.html
I was on "deferred disposition" for 90 days, which is sort of like probation. Don't get any other tickets for 90 days, and the original ticket magically disappears from existence. I knew the 90 days anniversary had come, so it was time to go turn in my documents, and get the case closed. I knew the 90 days date was June 3rd, because I remember the lady writing it on my paperwork. Since the office I have to take the paperwork to is across town, and I do my daily commuting on my motorbike, I decided to wait until a rainy day when I would already be in my truck, or at least until a day when I would be going to that side of town anyway. My brother and I have a system of taking each other to lunch on or around our respective birthdays, so this would provide a good opportunity to do the paperwork at the same time. Perfect. Also, by freak luck, it was supposed to rain that day. Three birds with one stone? Perhaps.
So a couple of days prior, I pull out the paperwork, which I had stored in my truck so I couldn't lose it, to make sure there is nothing I need to bring with me or to make sure I sign anything that needs signage. I read the verbiage carefully and notice one key phrase in a sentence in the middle of a paragraph.
"You must appear on the above stated date".
Uh oh! June 3rd. Damn it. It was the afternoon of the 6Th. Son of a whore! Mother bitches! I read the document a few more times to make sure I understood, and it had this same phrasing not once, but twice on the page. It went on to say that if you fail to appear on the date shown, that the citation will then count as a conviction on your driving record, and the fee will be 'receipted', whatever that means. Holy assfuck! Now what the H E double hockey sticks am I gunna do?!
I figure since it is Friday and I already missed the date, that I was just fucked, so waiting a few more days wouldn't hurt. I seemed to recall seeing that phrasing worded differently on the same type of paperwork, so I felt confused. I had been on deferred disposition once before in another county for speeding several years ago, and I know that it was a 'any time after 90 days' kind of deal, so I guess I just assumed that was the way it worked. I guess assuming in this case was a bad plan. I dig some digging as I had before I turned in the paperwork and found a very similar looking document on their web page, with one slight difference. The paperwork on the website said "after 90 days" rather than the must appear on the date jargon from the paperwork they gave me. Shit.
So I spent Friday through Tuesday worrying about how to deal with the scenario. I was going by what had stuck in my head because of what the website said, rather then what was on the document they gave me. I went through all the various excuses in my head over and over again. I can get a little obsessive about planning ahead in scenario such as this. By Sunday night, I had just arrived at the conclusion that it was retarded to worry, because whatever was going to happen would happen, and I couldn't possibly deal with it until that time. Still, doesn't hurt to have a few catch phrases prepared. I figured that I would just hand it to them and see what they say. If they ask why I didn't come on that day, I would just explain that their website had conflicting data, and that they should fix it, and if they still were going to be dicks about it, I would deal with that when the time comes.
Then when Tuesday rolled around, and is grew closer to time to go do it, I just got this overwhelming doom feeling. I was feeling like some sort of criminal for not going on the right day. But, this was just a traffic ticket, it was harmless. Worst case scenario, it goes in the books as a conviction for 15 miles an hour over the limit. Big deal. I don't speed very much, and I have only gotten one other speeding citation in my adult life, so this was nothing.
I went to lunch with my brother and told him my story about the ticket, and asked his opinion. I showed him the paperwork. His opinion was that the paperwork was quite clear in saying it had to be THE day, and that the paper work they gave me, should trump anything on the website. He was probably right. Damn it all down to hell!
So I go over to the office after lunch. My stomach was turning and it was full of barbecue, and I had to take huge crap, so that didn't help matters any. I approach the window. The lady notices me there and asks if I need any help. I tell her I need to turn in my deferred paperwork. She takes my papers and flips through them a few times, then walks away. Now my heart starts beating quickly, and I feel like I am just about to freak the fuck out. She comes back a few seconds later with a red folder, and open it up. She asks me if I had gotten any more tickets within the 90 days, and I say no. She says OK, and asks me to sign one line on the page. I do. She says OK.
...
Silence. Silence that seemed to be 3, maybe 4 hours long. It was really about 2 seconds.
...
I finally say "Is that it?". She says "Yup, that's it." OK. cool. I turn around and walk out. And it was over.
This is where I should be happy and relieved, and on some levels I was, but on others, not. Sure I was glad that whole thing was over and done. But I was unhappy that I had spent so many days and night worried about the stupid thing. It would have been better to just say fuck it, and just chill until there was something to unchill about. It seems like a better way to live would be to cast aside any negative feelings, and just go with the flow. In this particular scenario, I should have put no thought into it at all, until I handed the lady the paper, and she asked why I didn't show up on the day I was supposed to. In my line of work, that's kind of my bread and butter. I deal with servers, and until a server breaks, you just chill. Then when something breaks, and hundreds if not thousands of people cannot function, and the pressure is, then you break out your bad self, and its go time. I am good at what I do, having to do so under extreme pressure, and I see no reason at all why I could not apply that technique to other facets on my life. So, from here on out, that is what I intend to do. I also encourage everyone else to make an attempt to be more laid back, and let life happen, and then kick in your mojo when the situation calls for it.
"Let's go to fucking Hawaii and get drunk in the sun; I wanna lie on Waikiki, and get a terrible burn."
~The Young Canadians.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
I really have nothing so I am shooting from the hip again. Everything has been sort of on cruise control for a little while here. Days and weeks are going by fast, yet not much is happening.
Speaking of cruising, I checked in on a cruise today, because it is coming up on vacation time again already. The cruise lines now charge a "supplemental" gas fee, which is either $8 or $9 per person, PER DAY! Take a 5 day cruise, two people, you are looking at $90. Plus, to drive from where I am to the cruise terminal will cost me $165 in gas. That's $255 and I haven't even got a ticket yet! So now I am having to rethink my strategies. The cost of flying has increased as well. A lot of places are now charging a fee per checked bag, per way! So a round trip you have to pay the fee twice. My math shows that flying to Las Vegas is still the cheapest vacation. On a cruise you get all the free food you want, but in Vegas you get all the free liquor you want. Liquor is way more expensive than food, so advantage Vegas. Plus, the airport is all of 15 minutes away from my house. I'll probably settle for Vegas, if that is even considered settling.
Anyway, I have been thinking about the speed of business. I am working on a project at work. I am having to work with an outside vendor, and multiple teams within the company. There is a lot of pressure to get the project completed as soon as possible, since it is a new product that we are going to selling soon. So in really general terms, I have to build the server that the product runs on. Sounds simple enough.
I get scheduled for a call with the vendor for the configuration. I spend all day on the call, and it turns out there is one crucial missing piece, which someone else has to get. That person has to wait on another outside company to get the piece ready. This ends up taking over a week. In the interim, the vendor flies down to my site, to work on it some more, and we use a spare piece he has for testing purposes. We work literally all day on it and get it working finally at the very end of the day. Great. He leaves.
Three or four days later, we finally get the piece we need and hook it up and it doesn't work. Great. What the fuck? I jack with it for 2 more days and finally get it working, after a few emails with the vendor. Great now the piece is in place and the overall product still doesn't work! Now yet another team has to get involved to do their part, and the guy is on vacation for a couple of days. OK.
He gets back and does his part, and it still doesn't work. So yet another department gets involved for troubleshooting purposes, and they don't know anything at the end of the day. So the next day, another department has to fix the "tubes" between my junk and their junk. This takes another 2 days. Wow. Anyone notice how much time is getting wasted here?
The finally do their part and guess what. Broken still. Great. OK, so now another yet another department (how many fucking departments do we even have?) gets involved to troubleshoot their point in the pipe between the previously mentioned tubes. Amazing. Their shit works just fine, and they prove it, so now its back to my shit after all that.
So I email the vendor to schedule some time, which takes another day. Finally get back on a call with him and we work again all day and finally, FINALLY, we get it working. How in the hell are we supposed to sell this to other people, if we had such a hard time getting it going ourselves?
And this was all when we were in more or less a hurry panic mode. What is my point here with all this? Nothing. But it is an interesting peek into a typical process in today's modern business world. Its amazing that with all this bullshit technology that is everywhere in our connected hooked up blackberry email fucking whatever world, that shit can still move so slowly. It blows my mind that anything ever gets done at all.
Fuck it, I'm going to Vegas!
Speaking of cruising, I checked in on a cruise today, because it is coming up on vacation time again already. The cruise lines now charge a "supplemental" gas fee, which is either $8 or $9 per person, PER DAY! Take a 5 day cruise, two people, you are looking at $90. Plus, to drive from where I am to the cruise terminal will cost me $165 in gas. That's $255 and I haven't even got a ticket yet! So now I am having to rethink my strategies. The cost of flying has increased as well. A lot of places are now charging a fee per checked bag, per way! So a round trip you have to pay the fee twice. My math shows that flying to Las Vegas is still the cheapest vacation. On a cruise you get all the free food you want, but in Vegas you get all the free liquor you want. Liquor is way more expensive than food, so advantage Vegas. Plus, the airport is all of 15 minutes away from my house. I'll probably settle for Vegas, if that is even considered settling.
Anyway, I have been thinking about the speed of business. I am working on a project at work. I am having to work with an outside vendor, and multiple teams within the company. There is a lot of pressure to get the project completed as soon as possible, since it is a new product that we are going to selling soon. So in really general terms, I have to build the server that the product runs on. Sounds simple enough.
I get scheduled for a call with the vendor for the configuration. I spend all day on the call, and it turns out there is one crucial missing piece, which someone else has to get. That person has to wait on another outside company to get the piece ready. This ends up taking over a week. In the interim, the vendor flies down to my site, to work on it some more, and we use a spare piece he has for testing purposes. We work literally all day on it and get it working finally at the very end of the day. Great. He leaves.
Three or four days later, we finally get the piece we need and hook it up and it doesn't work. Great. What the fuck? I jack with it for 2 more days and finally get it working, after a few emails with the vendor. Great now the piece is in place and the overall product still doesn't work! Now yet another team has to get involved to do their part, and the guy is on vacation for a couple of days. OK.
He gets back and does his part, and it still doesn't work. So yet another department gets involved for troubleshooting purposes, and they don't know anything at the end of the day. So the next day, another department has to fix the "tubes" between my junk and their junk. This takes another 2 days. Wow. Anyone notice how much time is getting wasted here?
The finally do their part and guess what. Broken still. Great. OK, so now another yet another department (how many fucking departments do we even have?) gets involved to troubleshoot their point in the pipe between the previously mentioned tubes. Amazing. Their shit works just fine, and they prove it, so now its back to my shit after all that.
So I email the vendor to schedule some time, which takes another day. Finally get back on a call with him and we work again all day and finally, FINALLY, we get it working. How in the hell are we supposed to sell this to other people, if we had such a hard time getting it going ourselves?
And this was all when we were in more or less a hurry panic mode. What is my point here with all this? Nothing. But it is an interesting peek into a typical process in today's modern business world. Its amazing that with all this bullshit technology that is everywhere in our connected hooked up blackberry email fucking whatever world, that shit can still move so slowly. It blows my mind that anything ever gets done at all.
Fuck it, I'm going to Vegas!
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