Sulu is gay.
(Trekkies will remember that line from Star Trek VI, when Captain Sulu is told there is a Klingon Bird of Prey that can fire when cloaked. I always believed his response should've been more along the lines of, "Holy $&@&!!!")
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Tylenol and ice packs
It's been a few days, hope you didn't miss me too much. I had a good excuse.
So Sunday I've got a full slate planned - clean the bathroom, clean the gutters, mow the lawn, pull some weeds - when, as I'm spraying Tilex in the shower, I feel that twinge on the right side of my back, about half way up.
Oh, nuts.
I've had back problems since college. As a software engineer, comes with the territory. Then a couple years ago, it really turned on me. I had just got out of bed and was on my way to have some cereal, and I slowly sunk to my knees like I'd been shot in a cheesy old western.
A short-term disability stint, some physical therapy, two months of pain and immobility, and a cortizone shot later, I was fixed...sort of. I have a herniated disc. Every six months or so, it tightens up and I go on the shelf for about 48 hours until I can get it loosened up. I think I've tied it to my muscles being cold (I hadn't used the heater until Monday, too late), but I guess if I got off my duff and exercised more it wouldn't be so bad.
This time was a little lengthier than the last couple times. I didn't feel at all well until this morning. It was actually pretty brutal Monday and I was starting to worry that it wasn't improving.
The worst part of it, strangely enough, is not the pain. It's having to remember to move deliberately so you won't trigger shooting pain down your sciatic nerve, and the added effort needed to do the most menial tasks. A trip to the bathroom can require a Herculean effort. I guess one of the positives is I work up such a sweat just moving around, it's a great workout.
Also, when every muscle in your back is flexed all at once, trying to walk with any kind of posture is tiring. Then your shoulders start to hurt from trying to keep them back so you're not walking like Igor or Quasimodo. It doesn't help when your company has a shareholder meeting and you have to park 150 yards from the door. (Hey, I'm a shareholder too!) It took me 15 minutes to get to my office this morning from the parking lot.
Did I mention driving? I tried to drive to work Tuesday and after 10 minutes (I hadn't even got to the freeway), the pain in my leg was so bad I had to retreat back to my home office. Not comfy at all.
Luckily, the Lord cut me a break and it didn't rain this week when the showers blew through. Which means it's gutter cleanin' time on Saturday.
So Sunday I've got a full slate planned - clean the bathroom, clean the gutters, mow the lawn, pull some weeds - when, as I'm spraying Tilex in the shower, I feel that twinge on the right side of my back, about half way up.
Oh, nuts.
I've had back problems since college. As a software engineer, comes with the territory. Then a couple years ago, it really turned on me. I had just got out of bed and was on my way to have some cereal, and I slowly sunk to my knees like I'd been shot in a cheesy old western.
A short-term disability stint, some physical therapy, two months of pain and immobility, and a cortizone shot later, I was fixed...sort of. I have a herniated disc. Every six months or so, it tightens up and I go on the shelf for about 48 hours until I can get it loosened up. I think I've tied it to my muscles being cold (I hadn't used the heater until Monday, too late), but I guess if I got off my duff and exercised more it wouldn't be so bad.
This time was a little lengthier than the last couple times. I didn't feel at all well until this morning. It was actually pretty brutal Monday and I was starting to worry that it wasn't improving.
The worst part of it, strangely enough, is not the pain. It's having to remember to move deliberately so you won't trigger shooting pain down your sciatic nerve, and the added effort needed to do the most menial tasks. A trip to the bathroom can require a Herculean effort. I guess one of the positives is I work up such a sweat just moving around, it's a great workout.
Also, when every muscle in your back is flexed all at once, trying to walk with any kind of posture is tiring. Then your shoulders start to hurt from trying to keep them back so you're not walking like Igor or Quasimodo. It doesn't help when your company has a shareholder meeting and you have to park 150 yards from the door. (Hey, I'm a shareholder too!) It took me 15 minutes to get to my office this morning from the parking lot.
Did I mention driving? I tried to drive to work Tuesday and after 10 minutes (I hadn't even got to the freeway), the pain in my leg was so bad I had to retreat back to my home office. Not comfy at all.
Luckily, the Lord cut me a break and it didn't rain this week when the showers blew through. Which means it's gutter cleanin' time on Saturday.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Bush Presidency Rapidly Approaches Self-Parody
Bush Teleconference With Soldiers Staged
Five of the ten troops involved were officers. I didn't know Bush was filiming infomercials now! Maybe he should ask Tom Emanski, Tom Vu, and Billy Mays about their opinions on the war. He could get it endorsed by Major League Super Star Fred McGriff.
(If you got that joke, you watch too much TV. But a Gazelle from Tony Little and get to work.)
Holy Smurfing Smurf!
Smurfpocalypse Now!
Unicef bombs the Smurfs in fund-raising campaign for ex-child soldiers (Courtesy of The Beat)
Some of you out there know of my hatred of all things Smurf. Let's just say Halloween is ruined forever (or at least until drinking age) if you want to be G.I. Joe but end up as Generic Smurf. I didn't even like Smurfs to begin with, but when you're out there trying to get your candy on, and some adult answers a door and asks gruffly, "Aren't you a little old to be a Smurf?" - it's time to call it a night. But, as they say, I'm not sure I would wish this on my worst enemy.
"We wanted something that was real war - Smurfs losing arms, or a Smurf losing a head -but they said no."
I saw the slideshow with the audio and this is going to flat-out traumatize kids. The Smurfs never did much for me, but I guess if they bombed the crap out of Sesame Street, I'd be more shocked.
Gotta say though, the timing of this news being near Halloween and that whole Smurf episode I went through, it is pretty funny. It's probably a good thing Decapitated Smurf and Venus De Milo Smurf didn't make an appearance, because the unintentional comedy rating would've distracted people from the message. (It's bad enough that Smurf behind Baby Smurf is running around with his hat on fire.)
Getting a breather.
Finally we had a night that felt somewhat normal. I cooked up a tri-tip and some baked potatoes (considering they were seasoned with random stuff from the spice rack, it was pretty frickin' good) and watched Game 2 of the NLCS. Rhonda called it a (very) early night and I took the opportunity to clear some DVR space.
The only thing that sucks about Lost is having to wait a week between shows. I guess it's not like waiting four years after Empire for Return of the Jedi, so I shouldn't complain.
The only real downer is we paid property taxes today and we've been financially beaten into submission. At least my raise went into effect on this paycheck. It's nice to actually get raises and promotions, and not just the "we should all be lucky we have jobs" speech. Let's just say, to those of us on our list, don't expect too much from us come Christmas.
The only thing that sucks about Lost is having to wait a week between shows. I guess it's not like waiting four years after Empire for Return of the Jedi, so I shouldn't complain.
The only real downer is we paid property taxes today and we've been financially beaten into submission. At least my raise went into effect on this paycheck. It's nice to actually get raises and promotions, and not just the "we should all be lucky we have jobs" speech. Let's just say, to those of us on our list, don't expect too much from us come Christmas.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
I've got so much trouble on my mind.
Chuck D said it best.
Things have not gotten any better since the events of last Monday. If anything, they've gotten steadily worse.
Rhonda got her purse stolen Monday during a staff meeting. As if the violation of privacy and exposure of personal information (driver's license, credit cards, etc.) were not bad enough, Rhonda's Treo 650 smartphone (2 weeks old, $400, no insurance) and Nintendo DS (barely a month old) were in her bag. The outside doors to the school are supposed to be locked except for the office, so automatically it looks like an inside job.
After playing Barnaby Jones with Rhonda's principal over some strange out-of-state calls to Rhonda's cell phone, we are 99% sure who did it (let's just say someone hasn't shown up as scheduled for the last week). Unfortunately, without an eyewitness, the SJPD is refusing to investigate. One dispatcher in particular has gone out of her way to be as unhelpful and unsympathetic as possible.
In the process of switching her phone service to her old phone, we also found out next month's bill is going to be about $600. Obviously, this coupled with the theft, and property taxes, and our regular bills is painting a dark picture of our financial future. That bill's obviously being disputed (it's unrelated to the theft) but it's just something else to worry about.
Rhonda has been putting on a brave face at school. She had a new student the day after the theft so she made herself go to work. I don't know how she made it that day. At home, she's been a wreck. This is the first time she's had something of hers stolen (whereas I am old hat at getting robbed), so she has understandably been depressed and beating herself up over it. I do what I can, but what can you really do?
Things looked like they might turn a corner on Friday, but on Saturday the iBook the school gave Rhonda wouldn't boot. She needed to do progress reports over the weekend because she has class at SJSU Tuesday and Wednesdays and needed to prep for those days for her class on Monday night. She figured out the problem was the power adapter (which was actually sparking when plugged in). They didn't have a power adapter at Fry's (because that would be too easy) so she had to go to the Apple Store to pick one up. Another $100 and a day wasted.
(And Cal lost on Saturday to UCLA after leading the ENTIRE GAME. It's a small thing, but it ruined my day.)
On Monday when she e-mailed the librarian (the de facto IT person, evidently) how to get reimbursed, she got a nastygram from her about not following procedure and how she shouldn't be buying equipment. She didn't seem to care that it was an emergency (she actually told Rhonda, who's still a non-contract, non-tenured sub, to do the progress reports late!!!), she was just angry that Rhonda didn't follow HER rules. When Rhonda went to her principal to get the reimbursement approved, The librarian called her out when she took her class to the library. In front of her class.
Rhonda handled it very professionally and walked away instead of getting into a shouting match with the librarian. She reported back to the principal about it, and nearly punched a hole in the wall. She was still livid when she got home. I told her to let me know what she needed for progress reports and report cards and such (she was using Filemaker Pro templates the previous teacher used) and I would write her an app in Java or prepare a spreadhseet in Excel for her to do the same thing in Windows. That way she could give that skank back her laptop and not have o deal with her about it.
Today I found out my cousin and her husband are getting fleeced by their cell phone company. It looks like their phone got cloned and the company says not only are they responsible for paying for those calls, but changing their number incurs a charge because it changes the contract. This is a young family with a one-year-old on a single income and it's unbelievable that, due to deregulation, the probably don't have any choice but to pay.
That was the breaking point. I don't know how I can keep this up. I come to work some days and with all the things on my mind I can barely concentrate. On top of this, there are hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, more Republican scandals than you can shake a stick at, and I have to wonder what the hell is wrong with the world?
What is the point of having laws if no one will enforce them?
What is it with some people that rules and ego come before compassion for people having a hard time and for common decency and respect of others?
I got a meeting to go to. Then I'm going to go home and break some things.
Things have not gotten any better since the events of last Monday. If anything, they've gotten steadily worse.
Rhonda got her purse stolen Monday during a staff meeting. As if the violation of privacy and exposure of personal information (driver's license, credit cards, etc.) were not bad enough, Rhonda's Treo 650 smartphone (2 weeks old, $400, no insurance) and Nintendo DS (barely a month old) were in her bag. The outside doors to the school are supposed to be locked except for the office, so automatically it looks like an inside job.
After playing Barnaby Jones with Rhonda's principal over some strange out-of-state calls to Rhonda's cell phone, we are 99% sure who did it (let's just say someone hasn't shown up as scheduled for the last week). Unfortunately, without an eyewitness, the SJPD is refusing to investigate. One dispatcher in particular has gone out of her way to be as unhelpful and unsympathetic as possible.
In the process of switching her phone service to her old phone, we also found out next month's bill is going to be about $600. Obviously, this coupled with the theft, and property taxes, and our regular bills is painting a dark picture of our financial future. That bill's obviously being disputed (it's unrelated to the theft) but it's just something else to worry about.
Rhonda has been putting on a brave face at school. She had a new student the day after the theft so she made herself go to work. I don't know how she made it that day. At home, she's been a wreck. This is the first time she's had something of hers stolen (whereas I am old hat at getting robbed), so she has understandably been depressed and beating herself up over it. I do what I can, but what can you really do?
Things looked like they might turn a corner on Friday, but on Saturday the iBook the school gave Rhonda wouldn't boot. She needed to do progress reports over the weekend because she has class at SJSU Tuesday and Wednesdays and needed to prep for those days for her class on Monday night. She figured out the problem was the power adapter (which was actually sparking when plugged in). They didn't have a power adapter at Fry's (because that would be too easy) so she had to go to the Apple Store to pick one up. Another $100 and a day wasted.
(And Cal lost on Saturday to UCLA after leading the ENTIRE GAME. It's a small thing, but it ruined my day.)
On Monday when she e-mailed the librarian (the de facto IT person, evidently) how to get reimbursed, she got a nastygram from her about not following procedure and how she shouldn't be buying equipment. She didn't seem to care that it was an emergency (she actually told Rhonda, who's still a non-contract, non-tenured sub, to do the progress reports late!!!), she was just angry that Rhonda didn't follow HER rules. When Rhonda went to her principal to get the reimbursement approved, The librarian called her out when she took her class to the library. In front of her class.
Rhonda handled it very professionally and walked away instead of getting into a shouting match with the librarian. She reported back to the principal about it, and nearly punched a hole in the wall. She was still livid when she got home. I told her to let me know what she needed for progress reports and report cards and such (she was using Filemaker Pro templates the previous teacher used) and I would write her an app in Java or prepare a spreadhseet in Excel for her to do the same thing in Windows. That way she could give that skank back her laptop and not have o deal with her about it.
Today I found out my cousin and her husband are getting fleeced by their cell phone company. It looks like their phone got cloned and the company says not only are they responsible for paying for those calls, but changing their number incurs a charge because it changes the contract. This is a young family with a one-year-old on a single income and it's unbelievable that, due to deregulation, the probably don't have any choice but to pay.
That was the breaking point. I don't know how I can keep this up. I come to work some days and with all the things on my mind I can barely concentrate. On top of this, there are hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, more Republican scandals than you can shake a stick at, and I have to wonder what the hell is wrong with the world?
What is the point of having laws if no one will enforce them?
What is it with some people that rules and ego come before compassion for people having a hard time and for common decency and respect of others?
I got a meeting to go to. Then I'm going to go home and break some things.
Monday, October 03, 2005
blech.
I wanted to post about something happy, but that all went out the window this afternoon when Rhonda's purse was stolen from her classroom.
So our evening was spent tearing apart the house, her car and her classroom to double-check it wasn't misplaced before calling all the banks and credit card companies to report her cards stolen. It didn't help that while she had little cash (what else is new), her Nintendo DS and Treo 650 were in there.
We're holding out some hope that this is a cruel practical joke by one of her students (which would be nothing short of tragic, since that's a sure ticket for expulsion), but at this point, who knows?
If it was stolen by an adult, I wonder what type of dirtbag steals from a first-grade teacher. A first-grade teacher without a contract on the sub rate, at that. I try not to be too cynical about human nature, but when you're being kicked while you're down, it's hard not to be.
So our evening was spent tearing apart the house, her car and her classroom to double-check it wasn't misplaced before calling all the banks and credit card companies to report her cards stolen. It didn't help that while she had little cash (what else is new), her Nintendo DS and Treo 650 were in there.
We're holding out some hope that this is a cruel practical joke by one of her students (which would be nothing short of tragic, since that's a sure ticket for expulsion), but at this point, who knows?
If it was stolen by an adult, I wonder what type of dirtbag steals from a first-grade teacher. A first-grade teacher without a contract on the sub rate, at that. I try not to be too cynical about human nature, but when you're being kicked while you're down, it's hard not to be.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Razing Arizona
Cal is 5-0 after beating Arizona into submission 28-0. Next up is UCLA, in what will be the first in a long line of many trash-talking game weeks between Sara and I.
On the downside, Sun Hong Kong closed up shop and no one told me. I was looking forward to Hong Kong style chow mein served with only the apathy you get from Sun Hong Kong. We had to settle for Top Dog.
On the downside, Sun Hong Kong closed up shop and no one told me. I was looking forward to Hong Kong style chow mein served with only the apathy you get from Sun Hong Kong. We had to settle for Top Dog.
Huh?
On Wednesday's episode of Lost, did anyone see the Dharma logo (the same as the logo on the wall on the tunnel down in the hatch, and on Desmond's shirt) on the underside of the shark, near the tail?
WTF?!?
WTF?!?
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