Photo-logging

Music: Get Set Go - Won't Let Her Go

Rules:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your flickr name?

1. Albert Park Lake, 2. Stir fried noodles with seafood, 3. Memorial composite, 4. blue and white...2008, 5. Christina Ricci, 6. Keith's, 7. A Bit of Ireland, 8. Lemon meringue pie anyone?, 9. The Photographer, 10. Say I Love You at the End of the Day, 11. I'm Awesome!!! (Very Tongue in cheek), 12. Untitled (I'm unique)

Those were the days...

Music: Imogen Heap - Getting Scared

I remember when I started this, that I would try to keep what I write to be more creative and less of the duldrums of life, but lately life has been pretty interesting.

Case 1: I used to enjoy the fact that use on the Internet was fairly free reign, I could download a piece of open source software that related to my work. I would sometimes find a wonderful piece of software that would be excellent for my job.

Then they changed. I could still download things, but they had to be approved first. The license agreements read, analyzed and scrutinized. There was a public location at work where all of the "approved" software was to be found.

There was a catch. I couldn't make a request for this software to be included in the folder. I had to convince my supervisor that it was necessary, then he would have to convince the IT department that it was necessary, then they would take a few days to approve it.

Then it changed again. The request process was still in place, but now they completely blocked all downloads. Everything. You click on a link to download a file, blocked. Even things that are necessary for my job I'm having a hard time getting access to. Its getting quite ridiculous.

Case 2: Like most frequent computer uses, I get sore writes from not properly using the terribly (and unchanged) designed mouse for hours a day. To circumvent this I had boughten a graphics tablet which uses a pen mouse for better ergonomics. It took roughly three days to get the proper approval to plug the device into my workstation, in the meantime I'd have to sit at my desk and try to do my work one handed since I was in that much pain at the time.

I guess things could be worse. I could be working for the government where things are totally locked out, restricted and downright weird. I figured that a private business would be a little more willing to let their employees surf as they wish.

What is everyone else's work environment like?

Nostalgic Weekend

Music: My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult - Sexy Sucker

This weekend was fantastic, went and did something that I haven't done in years, along with two things I've never done.

First. The thing that I haven't done in ages: Went to the Drive In!! Yes, there are still places in the world that have driveins. We were driving back from visiting a friend and were driving to the in-laws when we spotted it from the highway. We drive by this place every time we go to the in-laws, but that night I wanted to go.

We saw You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Made of Honour (yes, I'm Canadian and I put a U in there, deal. :) )

Second. Something I've never done.... made out at the Drive in! Yeah, I'm a loser...

Third. The other thing I haven't done. Attended a big press release for a launch of a sculpture.

http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/326869 (I'm hoping the link stays active for a while)

The artist is my uncle-in-law, he's done alot of work in the area over the past few years. And we're very proud of him as he's been getting alot of work over the past number of years. The subject of the scupture is John Peters Humphry who was instrumental in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I didn't realize he had grown up in such close proximity to where I'm currently living.

Fuming!

Music: Autechre - Further

I didn't realize until a few minutes ago that it was actually Friday the 13th, normally this doesn't bother me. And today isn't any different. But there are other things that are on my mind...

At work I am mentoring another person, basically I assist them with their daily tasks, provide guidance and leadership, you know... essentially I'm the Big Brother. Our boss told me to do this the moment I came back in the doors in January, I took the responsibility on with open arms as I used to do this as well with another co-worker.

Except today. I was apparently the "asshole". Let me explain, yesterday afternoon he was sending a message to a client when I left, so I came in this morning and read the message. Everything was fine.

He arrived at work, and I said to him.

Me: "Why did you ask for this? Did the original problem get fixed?"
Him: "No."
Me: "You should ask him for this log file just to make sure that you can verify that its not a problem before asking for something else."
Him: "I just didn't. I don't need you to tell me what to do."

(a few moments later, he turns around...)

Him, very angrily: "Why are you always reading my requests? I never read yours, I never asked you to."
Me: "I was just trying to help."

He was pissed, so how in my attempt to offer him some advice, I offended him, hardcore.

I cooled myself down because I was about ready to punch out his lights for being such an ass. I quickly emailed my boss about something else that had come in through the email and then briefly mentioned the altercation to him, within about 30 seconds he called me into the office to find out what was going on. I didn't want to have to report this, but lately things just don't seem to be working out at all for him. I mean the training class that he gave a few weeks back was a disaster in the clients eyes, and now this.

Things don't seem bright.

Of sorts...

Music: Run Level Zero - Run Level Zero

I just got a promotion of sorts at work, though I won't be making any more money. A few weeks ago at a hosting meeting it was decided that since the eldest of the Sales people was off work for an extended period of time, I would take his place as the point of contact for all of the hosted environments that are deployed within the company for internal use and for external viewing.

Turns out this isn't much different than before as I was doing all the work anyways.

I *NEED* to go see this movie: Young People Fucking and you need to as well.

Random thoughts for the day....

• I made my 100th post yesterday. Not bad for ingoring this thing for 3 1/2 months.
• I love my job.
• I hate my job.
• I actually want to move.
• I think that makes me delusional.
• I'm a geek, but I tend to refer to myself as a "Technology Aficionado", makes me feel like I need to have my picture on a magazine cover holding a PDA or something.
• I want a blackberry, not because I'd use it, but so I can say that I have one. I had a Palm Pilot back when they were cool ('98) and used it for about a week. I was happy I bought it second hand.
• Yesterday for supper we had chicken. I cooked four piece for the two of us. Why? Just because they were stuck together and I didn't want to take the time separating them.
• If I had the choice to go to Ireland or a beach in the Caribbean, I'd pick Ireland without thinking.
• I've been looking at different job postings for the last year and have yet to find anything that suits what I want to do.
• I have been thinking about doing my Masters in Computer Science for about 4 years now, I'm still no closer to making up my mind. I think I'd miss working.
• If I won the lottery, I'd work full time. If I didn't I'd probably end up being really, really, really bored.
• If I won the lottery, I'd give most of it to charity. I wouldn't need that much money anyways.
• I'd give someone pretty well anything if they did or didn't ask. (Case in point: gave a perfectly good 20" tv to my wife's coworker. When the same coworker gets settled, we're giving them a laptop.)
• I've been compiling this list for 2 hours. Thats what happens when you do this stuff at work.
• I miss my friend Kermit. I was thinking about him the other day. He passed away 5 or 6 years ago now, cancer. Way too young.
• Now I'm sad.
• Stupid list.

You can tell

You can tell that I am a new owner of a car. I'll tell you why.

I just called a few places to inquire about the cost of a MVI (motor vehicle inspection) for my car. After a call to a few garages, I called my dealer, and asked the question. He responded politely:

"The cost of the MVI is regulated by the government, its $25."

I was like, "Shit, I feel like an arse now." (I said this in my head.)

Guess I can go whereever I want for my MVI, so I might as well take it to the dealer since I like our sales guy.

Celebrity Blogs...

Music: Ministry - Hero

I've been reading a few celebrity blogs lately (did you know that Kanye West posts like 8 or 9 times a day on MySpace?) and its really kind of funny to read about how they're trying to live the normal life, while shopping on Sunset Drive and getting hounded by twenty 'razzi (as they call them).

The best part about it, is reading the comments that the 'normal' people leave on their blogs after every post.

"I love you"
"You're the best"
Trying to make relatively nice conversation with the artist on their post, knowing full well that the person isn't going to read the comment, their own blog, or comment back. And its funny to see that the same four or five people are always at the top of the comments, you know very well that those people are getting close to being stalkers.

Its nice to see people trying to give back to their base, as superficial as it might be.

*Note: by "Celebrity blogs"... I mean 2. (One a famous person, one an indie rocker who *should* be famous.)

Why don't people listen...

when I tell them things.

Case in point:

A colleague asked me if I had worked with a piece of software before.

I honestly answer him: probably not in 2 years.

For the next 3 days I'm barraged with questions of:

"Do you have these files?" (I've never been involved in the project.)
"Am I doing this right?" (I don't know, I've never done it.)
"Do you have these other files?" (Seeing as how I didn't have the first ones, I doubt I'm going to have the next ones.)

Edit: Now I get it. I'm being asked because the employee before me used to work on this project and software so they figure that I'm inheriting knowledge

Bloody hell...

Music - !!! - Pardon My Freedom

I'm not actually whining about the heat, I can deal with that sometimes (by taking a trip to the mall for a movie)... I'm whining about the fact that with the Air Con turned *on* here at work I'm still sweating.

I put my arm on the desk and I can feel how sticky the air actually is. Shouldn't having the A/C running cure this and pull the moisture from the air? Shouldn't I be comfortable sitting in my seat while at work?

Then again this is the same company who told us to bring indoor and outdoor shoes in the winter because they didn't want to pay someone to mop the floors...

If only things were easier and I could run my own business, then I'd freeze the office out.

Sleep Deprivation...

or how I've learned to live on less than 5 hours.

For the past two days I've had a horrible time sleeping. I lay down, toss and turn for a few hours, then I make the mistake of getting up to watch TV. Why is this a mistake?

Because when you're tired and not able to sleep the worst thing that you can do is wake up and concentrate on something, like a movie or television. Its at that point when you are tired again when you find something interesting on the television and decide that staying up even later to watch it would be a much better idea than actually sleeping.

I'm just watching something on National Geographic on Stonehenge. Its on for another hour and a bit, which would make it close to 3 by the time its over, I really should turn it off... but I'm a dork.

Even worse than staying up to watch television when you're overtired... trying to write a coherent blog, but then again people should be used to that already.

Musicology

I've been on a strange music kick lately, ranging from distorted electronic beats to independent cabaret rock. Here are my two vices of the last month:

Abby Travis - artist from LA who does a great set of Lounge Rock with a piano. She's actually playing base for the Bangles at the moment while still producing her own albums in her free time.

Holy Fuck (home) - an electronic band from Toronto, with some members from close to my home town. They will probably never gain mainstream attention because people aren't allowed to say "Holy Fuck" on live television. Though, MuchMusic (the MTV equivalent in Canada, though 1,000 times better) recently started playing their music in the middle of the day.

Two completely different sets of music, yet I've been binging on everything that I can find. Its times like this when I had atleast one ounce of musical talent so that I could do 1/8th of what other people do.

Go check them out and leave me your opinion.

*jealous*

Anonymity...

I just realized at how terrible I am at keeping this semi-anonymous. I need to fix that.

Step 1. Removing link from facebook. Done.

Step 2. Get a new URL.

How can I accomplish #2 without loosing all of my readership.... wait... what readership....

Simple. I'll remap this blog somewhere and open a new one to use the old address..... uhhh yeah, that'll work.

The worst part, is all of the good names are taken by people who haven't updated their blogs in 3-4 years....

Apartment Shopping.

Music: Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen

There are currently three things that I hate most in the world:

1. Inconsiderate Drivers
2. Intolerant People (whether religious, racial, sexual, etc)
3. Moving

Wait, thats just the order in which I thought of them. Let me re-number them so you know how much that I actually hate moving.

1,000,000. Inconsiderate Drivers
2,000. Intolerant People (whether religious, racial, sexual, etc)
1. Moving

I *despise* moving. I hate packing. I hate lugging. I hate lifting shit up the stairs. I hate re-organizing the living space to fit the things we own. I hate arguing with my wife about where to put shit. I hate having a time limit to get the stuff out the apartment and into the new one before the uHaul renters in town pitch a fit.

Generally, all-around, without much doubt... I hate it.

Guess what we're potentially doing for the month of July? Thats right. Moving. But, if I have my way we'll have two apartments for the month of July which will give us thirty days to move our stuff from one place to another! How frickin' awesome is that?

F@ck right off...

Music: The Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm

I posted this initially, and have now re-read it. What a horrible entry... time for some editing.

I asked about a new feature in the application which allows a different page to be opened, I first read about it in the features document that was sent to me this morning and I had just gotten an installation working so I figured I'd check it out:

Me: Where do you set this? (After 10 minutes I found it on my own)

Me: So the setting says "Use the first" of the items in the list, where does it get the first one from?
Dev: From the list of features.
Me: But if the admin can set them up, and the user can set them up.
Dev: You'll have to test it because we don't know.

This means they don't care how its done, nor do they care about the usability or wording.

I thought about it for a few minutes and realized which would be first.

Me: Ok, so its the admin.

I quickly realize that there are two listings in where the Administrator can set the order, when its created and when its assigned to a user.

Me: Which list is it using? Because there are lots of inconsistencies.
Dev: I don't know, probably from the group. (Which makes sense)

Now I get to the hard questions:

Me: Whats the point of it? I mean if you have a list of 15 of these things that the admin just added and suddenly realized that things were wrong and you have to use the first one... you need to remove them all and add them all back in to have the proper order, because you didn't put in any mechanism to move these items up and down in the list*. So someone needs to spend a good 15 minutes getting this sorted out for each of the user groups (because the groups can have a different set of these items.)
Dev: That wasn't a requirement.
Me: So we're putting out a piece of functionality that development doesn't know the order of, where a user has no easy way of creating and maintaining this information? And no one thought of making it easier to use?
Dev: Its going to be like that in the next version in September.

Developers are always so hopeful, the version that I'm testing now is going on 2 months late, which means the September launch is already pushed back to October.

Me: So, why didn't we take the initiative to fix this as we were developing it?
Dev: I don't know. I'll file a defect.

Thats code for it'll get fixed at some point, but not anytime soon.
I hate it when shit like that happens. Why would you release something like that?

Think of it like this, you make a list on a piece of paper and you want to change the order. But you wrote it in marker, now you have to redo the entire list again on a new piece of paper. Its a waste really.

* This isn't the first time they've done that.

Neglectful

Music: Alec Empire - Ice | Alec Empire - Robot L.O.V.E.

Where has it all gone. The time has passed unbelievably quickly the last few days and I honestly don't have any idea what I did to make it go by so fast.

The only thing that I do know is:

1. I found a buyer for my old camera.
2. We're giving a spare TV to a friend.
3. At some point, we're giving that same friend a laptop.
4. I have an uncontrollable urge to write.

A few years back, probably 4 now, I started writing a story. Since that point it has blossomed to close to 40 pages with 10 or 12 more pages of edits that have yet to be added.

I don't remember any more why I started writing it, only that I have been neglecting it for the last two years. I was talking with an old friend from high school today when we began to discuss some of the writing projects that we've been neglecting since the last time we talked. (Prior to this the last time I spoke to her was close to 6 months ago)

We got on the subject and I began to think about this story, which I aptly named The Lumberjack. Yes, it will be a cheesy, 80s throw-back slasher with a bit of a twist. I was going to use "campy" but then realized that a mysterious stranger terrorizing campground would be a little redundant actually.

I'm going to spend some time this evening, before my wife comes home working on some of those edits. When she does get home I"m going to force her to watch AVP: Requiem again because its awesome.