Yes, I said the next post would be a piano post...but I'm a big fat liar and my pants are on fire. Some humor for y'all:
1) I forget the exact context as this occurred a few days ago, but a coworker made a joke about using small children for dangerous manual labor around his house...
Me: "Yeah...don't ever have children."
Coworker: "It's been a while since I was told not to procreate."
Me: "Yeah, but the last time was in front of a judge."
2) The coworker from above noticed today that the following email was sent to a customer by...let's say an international support center engineer:
"Apologizations.Was caught up in a lengthy meeting. Please let me know the time, when i could contact you tomorrow morning. Is it possible to work on webex session tomorrow morning."
Top notch. Just...top notch grammar.
Seriously the next post will be about piano. My apologizations to you all.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
PMD
Hello everyone. I hope you had a good weekend. A few thoughts from last week and the weekend:
1) New poll up...cuz they're so fun. Try to contain yourself.
2) I hate to sound snooty (snotty? Abe Froman, can I get a ruling?), but I'm so tired of dealing with incompetent people at work. Last week was not cool. Yes, it's my job to help people fix things but they're supposed to be IT professionals. When they're not, it's painfully obvious and...well, painful. I'm not always Type-A (so...A-?), but when customers call with issues I could fix in 5 minutes and the call takes well over an hour...I get cranky. I didn't used to because I truly enjoy helping people but it has been exhausting lately. I think my three years of service is rapidly approaching my tech support time limit.
Two words: va-cation. (No vay? Yes vay.)
3) Speaking of vacation, if you had a plethora of PTO hours to potentially use (oh let's say over 200), what would you do? I asked several people last week and got trip ideas, but I'm not any closer to actually doing something. I don't have a passport (although my name is my passport verify...me? mad props to anyone who gets that reference) and I don't want to spend a lot of money (plenty to spend it on in the future), which eliminates a lot of fun stuff and limits the travel options. Maybe just a road trip somewhere?
Probably the biggest obstacle is that I don't know if I can find an available friend to go anywhere on short notice. My brother's on his own trip and gets back in just enough time to start prepping for the school year, so he's out. Every normal person I know uses PTO like it's going out of style so the vast majority of people don't have much to spare. So...if I was to do something by myself, what the heck would I do? Zat is unknown, but somesing I should figger oot! I'm open to suggestions!
4) A few weeks ago, a coworker gave me a gift after cleaning out their house. Based on that, one might think the gift would be a bad one...but apparently this gift is easy (no, not that kind of easy) to do (hey, what did I just say?) and fun to grow (phew, that's better). How could I say no to...
I might have to keep track of Lil' Homer's progress with pictures here.
5) My computer is hooked up to a shelf stereo system on my desk. I've had the stereo for about 10 years and I certainly have gotten my money's worth, considering it's been on for 796459826405 hours (I've been keeping track). Unfortunately it's been sounding like crap lately. Music at low-medium volume crackles and pops (snap wasn't available) in the left speaker. Thankfully the main unit is the problem and not the speaker itself - reversing the wiring makes the right one sound like crap. Thanks to a friend's ingenuity, as well as some lengthy cables and speaker wire, I'm gonna try running everything through my receiver so that I can still use the working speakers without having to buy a new shelf unit. Yahoo for having creative friends.
6) There are few things I would say I truly hate. When I was younger and would say "I hate ____", my Mom would say, "You should really finish your sentences instead of leaving people hanging." Ok, ok. She would say, "Hate is a strong word." So I'd follow that up with "Then I really, really, really don't like ____." Well this morning I was forced to take a cold shower and I can say without hesitation that I hate cold showers (sorry Mom). I don't mind cold, I don't mind wet...but cold and wet? No thank you!
7) I received a random paper this morning. Thanks Pioneer Press. Please don't call me to renew the subscription I don't have for the paper I don't need.
8) If you're on Facebook and you haven't played Word Twist...don't. It's not quite Jumble, it's not quite Scrabble, but maaaaaan... Seriously, don't play it. You'll be glad you didn't.
9) Wow. Does beer pong really need to become a Wii game? It would be an awesome idea if beer pong was incredibly difficult to set up. But uh...last time I checked, it wasn't.
10) I played tennis after work today for the first time in several years. A few friends play every Monday and I might have to go back next week. Despite some late afternoon sun and some wicked humidity, we played for a couple hours. It took a little while to get my swing and serve back, but once I did, it was a lot of fun. Nothing like a good tennis rally.
11) The Twins are a game and a half behind the White Sox, and first place in the AL central, after winning game one of their four-game series this week. I never thought I'd be saying that at this point in the season. Go Twins!
Next up: a piano post.
1) New poll up...cuz they're so fun. Try to contain yourself.
2) I hate to sound snooty (snotty? Abe Froman, can I get a ruling?), but I'm so tired of dealing with incompetent people at work. Last week was not cool. Yes, it's my job to help people fix things but they're supposed to be IT professionals. When they're not, it's painfully obvious and...well, painful. I'm not always Type-A (so...A-?), but when customers call with issues I could fix in 5 minutes and the call takes well over an hour...I get cranky. I didn't used to because I truly enjoy helping people but it has been exhausting lately. I think my three years of service is rapidly approaching my tech support time limit.
Two words: va-cation. (No vay? Yes vay.)
3) Speaking of vacation, if you had a plethora of PTO hours to potentially use (oh let's say over 200), what would you do? I asked several people last week and got trip ideas, but I'm not any closer to actually doing something. I don't have a passport (although my name is my passport verify...me? mad props to anyone who gets that reference) and I don't want to spend a lot of money (plenty to spend it on in the future), which eliminates a lot of fun stuff and limits the travel options. Maybe just a road trip somewhere?
Probably the biggest obstacle is that I don't know if I can find an available friend to go anywhere on short notice. My brother's on his own trip and gets back in just enough time to start prepping for the school year, so he's out. Every normal person I know uses PTO like it's going out of style so the vast majority of people don't have much to spare. So...if I was to do something by myself, what the heck would I do? Zat is unknown, but somesing I should figger oot! I'm open to suggestions!
4) A few weeks ago, a coworker gave me a gift after cleaning out their house. Based on that, one might think the gift would be a bad one...but apparently this gift is easy (no, not that kind of easy) to do (hey, what did I just say?) and fun to grow (phew, that's better). How could I say no to...
I might have to keep track of Lil' Homer's progress with pictures here.
5) My computer is hooked up to a shelf stereo system on my desk. I've had the stereo for about 10 years and I certainly have gotten my money's worth, considering it's been on for 796459826405 hours (I've been keeping track). Unfortunately it's been sounding like crap lately. Music at low-medium volume crackles and pops (snap wasn't available) in the left speaker. Thankfully the main unit is the problem and not the speaker itself - reversing the wiring makes the right one sound like crap. Thanks to a friend's ingenuity, as well as some lengthy cables and speaker wire, I'm gonna try running everything through my receiver so that I can still use the working speakers without having to buy a new shelf unit. Yahoo for having creative friends.
6) There are few things I would say I truly hate. When I was younger and would say "I hate ____", my Mom would say, "You should really finish your sentences instead of leaving people hanging." Ok, ok. She would say, "Hate is a strong word." So I'd follow that up with "Then I really, really, really don't like ____." Well this morning I was forced to take a cold shower and I can say without hesitation that I hate cold showers (sorry Mom). I don't mind cold, I don't mind wet...but cold and wet? No thank you!
7) I received a random paper this morning. Thanks Pioneer Press. Please don't call me to renew the subscription I don't have for the paper I don't need.
8) If you're on Facebook and you haven't played Word Twist...don't. It's not quite Jumble, it's not quite Scrabble, but maaaaaan... Seriously, don't play it. You'll be glad you didn't.
9) Wow. Does beer pong really need to become a Wii game? It would be an awesome idea if beer pong was incredibly difficult to set up. But uh...last time I checked, it wasn't.
10) I played tennis after work today for the first time in several years. A few friends play every Monday and I might have to go back next week. Despite some late afternoon sun and some wicked humidity, we played for a couple hours. It took a little while to get my swing and serve back, but once I did, it was a lot of fun. Nothing like a good tennis rally.
11) The Twins are a game and a half behind the White Sox, and first place in the AL central, after winning game one of their four-game series this week. I never thought I'd be saying that at this point in the season. Go Twins!
Next up: a piano post.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The return of PMD?
1) Yeah, I'm a non-posting waste of space. I know it and you know it. If you haven't noticed, I go through phases and the previous few months were a "not gonna post" phase.
2) I have several posts that have been in the works for weeks (see #7), but I haven't made the time to sit down and finish them off. A photo-filled recap of a weekend trip to Wav-Town and other assorted crap. Maybe they'll get posted...soon? Who knows.
3) I bought a digital piano recently and have been playing the heck out of it. I had been kicking around the idea of buying one for a while and finally bit the bullet earlier this month. It's been a lot of fun figuring things out. I bought a chord chart for $2.50 and it was all I needed. I've been messing around with a lot of stuff and will probably have to have a separate post about it soon.
4) I played in the worst soccer league I've ever played in earlier this summer. Talent-wise, organization-wise...worst. League. Ever. Driving 30 minutes to beat a team by 10 if they happen to show up was not that fun. Luckily the team I played with plays in a very competitive league at the end of the summer. That will hopefully cleanse my soccer palette.
5) Speaking of soccer, my brother and I spent an hour and a half last night talking about soccer and Arsenal's upcoming season. Nothing beats talkin' shop and crackin' wise with the bro. Have fun on your trip, yo. Take good pictures of yourself and Ed's hat.
6) Overheard at work just now: "Other than this job, I love life." Amen, dude.
7) Speaking of work: it's not much fun right now. I've noticed recently that I get more frustrated more quickly than ever before. When I started working at this job, I would leave work in a good mood: happy with what I was doing and where I was doing it. Now? Not so much. Over the last six months, management has completely lost its mind and put some ridiculous policies and expectations in place causing everyone to be grumpy/stressed/frustrated. I can't seem to shake the "work sucks" feeling when I leave at night. Which leads to really un-fun ends of the week. By the time Friday afternoon comes around, I just want to break something. Maybe it's the staying late most nights (which has gotten much better thankfully - now it's only usually an extra 30 minutes compared to an hour and a half), maybe it's a sign I need a vacation (or staycation?), or maybe I need to find a new job. Time will tell. I think I'll start with at least a few three day weekends soon. Thankfully I have many days off at my disposal.
8) Can't plug this too much: Adam Carolla's morning show is streamed online and is available in podcast form. It is a consistently funny show...if you like Carolla and his rants about anything and everything.
9) I caught several good movies over the weekend: The Dark Knight, Wall-E, and The Hammer. I won't overhype The Dark Knight, but go see it if you liked Batman Begins. You won't be disappointed. As for Wall-E, it was a very simple movie (ie not tons of plot points to keep track of) that was very entertaining. For a movie that really had limited dialogue for most of it, it really made good use of the little things: sound effects, facials expressions and body language. Finally, The Hammer is Adam Carolla's recent independent film starring him as a 40-year-old carpenter who gets one last shot in the boxing ring. It was decent and had something for dudes and dudettes: boxing, some good lines and some light hearted romance.
10) The first half of season 4 of Battlestar Galactica has come and gone. It started slowly but ramped up at the end, as expected. I'm curious to see what they do with the last half, which supposedly will air in January.
11) Hulu.com. Can't plug that too much either. It's a great site full of videos and is starting to host a fair amount of movies. The best part? Free. The second best part? It has tons of old SNL clips. (See #13)
12) I don't know what to put here but I need to have a 12th so I can make the next joke. Um...have a good week everyone.
13) Oh let's just make this a baker's dozen.
2) I have several posts that have been in the works for weeks (see #7), but I haven't made the time to sit down and finish them off. A photo-filled recap of a weekend trip to Wav-Town and other assorted crap. Maybe they'll get posted...soon? Who knows.
3) I bought a digital piano recently and have been playing the heck out of it. I had been kicking around the idea of buying one for a while and finally bit the bullet earlier this month. It's been a lot of fun figuring things out. I bought a chord chart for $2.50 and it was all I needed. I've been messing around with a lot of stuff and will probably have to have a separate post about it soon.
4) I played in the worst soccer league I've ever played in earlier this summer. Talent-wise, organization-wise...worst. League. Ever. Driving 30 minutes to beat a team by 10 if they happen to show up was not that fun. Luckily the team I played with plays in a very competitive league at the end of the summer. That will hopefully cleanse my soccer palette.
5) Speaking of soccer, my brother and I spent an hour and a half last night talking about soccer and Arsenal's upcoming season. Nothing beats talkin' shop and crackin' wise with the bro. Have fun on your trip, yo. Take good pictures of yourself and Ed's hat.
6) Overheard at work just now: "Other than this job, I love life." Amen, dude.
7) Speaking of work: it's not much fun right now. I've noticed recently that I get more frustrated more quickly than ever before. When I started working at this job, I would leave work in a good mood: happy with what I was doing and where I was doing it. Now? Not so much. Over the last six months, management has completely lost its mind and put some ridiculous policies and expectations in place causing everyone to be grumpy/stressed/frustrated. I can't seem to shake the "work sucks" feeling when I leave at night. Which leads to really un-fun ends of the week. By the time Friday afternoon comes around, I just want to break something. Maybe it's the staying late most nights (which has gotten much better thankfully - now it's only usually an extra 30 minutes compared to an hour and a half), maybe it's a sign I need a vacation (or staycation?), or maybe I need to find a new job. Time will tell. I think I'll start with at least a few three day weekends soon. Thankfully I have many days off at my disposal.
8) Can't plug this too much: Adam Carolla's morning show is streamed online and is available in podcast form. It is a consistently funny show...if you like Carolla and his rants about anything and everything.
9) I caught several good movies over the weekend: The Dark Knight, Wall-E, and The Hammer. I won't overhype The Dark Knight, but go see it if you liked Batman Begins. You won't be disappointed. As for Wall-E, it was a very simple movie (ie not tons of plot points to keep track of) that was very entertaining. For a movie that really had limited dialogue for most of it, it really made good use of the little things: sound effects, facials expressions and body language. Finally, The Hammer is Adam Carolla's recent independent film starring him as a 40-year-old carpenter who gets one last shot in the boxing ring. It was decent and had something for dudes and dudettes: boxing, some good lines and some light hearted romance.
10) The first half of season 4 of Battlestar Galactica has come and gone. It started slowly but ramped up at the end, as expected. I'm curious to see what they do with the last half, which supposedly will air in January.
11) Hulu.com. Can't plug that too much either. It's a great site full of videos and is starting to host a fair amount of movies. The best part? Free. The second best part? It has tons of old SNL clips. (See #13)
12) I don't know what to put here but I need to have a 12th so I can make the next joke. Um...have a good week everyone.
13) Oh let's just make this a baker's dozen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)