Party, all night. Fiesta, forever.

This was supposed to be the big 100th post, but with all the griping I've been doing, it has to settle for being #103.

We had a little get-together at the crib this weekend and have the photographic evidence to prove it. I looked all night in the unpacked boxes for the camera and finally found it.

Here's Rhonda on the eve of the big event working diligently on...something, I suppose.



Now, the same room a few hours later. Note the lack of plastic bag on the love seat and the much more deliberate positioning of the seat cushions.





My pride and joy.





On to the dining area.



I didn't take pictures of the kitchen and bathroom, as neither has changed much. (Although Becka really liked our shower dispenser.)

Here's the view of the bedroom, at least the one that obscures all the crap that we put in there to keep out of view of the public.



Finally, here's the library-slash-office. It's the only room we repainted, the trials and tribulations of which are detailed here.







Feel free to compare these pictures to the house the day we bought it. Looks a lot better, no? I didn't post pictures of the front or back yard, but I'm proud to report modest improvement.

Now, we get some air conditioning up in this mug, and we are all set.

Here's a few candids from the party. Sorry, I was just too busy playing the host to take pictures - I had tri-tip to grill and money to win (I finished second in the only poker game to Sean, after I went on a tear at the end to narrow the field). I have to practice more taking pictures at events, I'm kinda shy about it :)







(I caught some flack for the lawn, but the back was completely and utterly dead when we moved in, and then we had to spray for yellowjackets. It's only been getting water for a few weeks - those green patches weren't there before!)

Thanks to everyone who was here, it was great to see you all again. Sorry to those who couldn't make it, I guess we'll have to do it some other time. You missed out on some good food (and we could've needed the help, we still have tons leftover!).

Lastly, Adia about sums up how I feel:

Good for them

Movie theater owners fire back at studios

Hey nimrods, box office sales aren't down because of theater owners or your usual targets, file-sharers. It's because your product, for the most part, sucks. Another Deuce Bigalow movie? Theatrical remakes of every twenty-year-old TV show that aired? What for? What's next? The Love Boat, with Patrick Stewart as Captain Stubing and Snoop Dogg as Isaac? ALF: The Movie?

Don't laugh. Some Hollywood exec would read this and think it's brilliant.

You're only making the problem worse by shortening the window from theater to DVD. Why should I pay $22 for Rhonda and I to see a movie in a theater when I can wait four months, buy it on DVD for $14 at Fry's, watch it on my 60-inch screen with 5.1 DTS sound, then sell it back on eBay if it sucks? I could practically break even.

Make better movies with smaller budgets, and of a wider variety. Not every movie has to be PG-13. Didn't you learn anything from the successes of Sin City and Million Dollar Baby?

I always used to think theaters were a racket, until I found out the studios charge the theaters so much for the privilege of shilling their crappy movies, that they have to charge five bucks for a small drink to break even. If studios can bring their costs in, theaters can bring their prices down, and people will be more willing to take a risk on going to the movies, rather than waiting for the video.

101st post

I had hoped to have some momentous or reflective content for my 100th post, but instead I had to bitch about work.

I'll have to save it for post #102, as I'm gonna vent some more since I'm totally stressed out. With Rhonda preparing for school and both of us getting hammered by allergies (I barely made it home yesterday; I kept nodding off during the commute before I got home and promptly passed out for three hours), we picked a bad weekend to have people over. The place is still a mess (although less so than in previous weeks) and we don't have enough time to get it as ready as we'd like. Time to start making like Winston Wolf in Pulp Fiction and start hiding the evidence.

Rhonda also wants me to come help her set up the room, and while I sympathize with her plight, it's just difficult to do. I've got work, we've got a house to clean and food to buy, her school is pretty far away (and down 101, never good except in the middle of the day)...she's going to be upset, I feel guilty but also not in a position to help much, and the whole situation just sucks right now.

I need to go home. There's too much waiting for me to do there to continue griping.

Fun @ Sun

I'm tired, tired, tired of miscommunication. Somebody decides we need a database refresh, fine. But I could've been told all the tables in all the schemas, not just those being refreshed, were going to get plowed over. That would've saved me the trouble of waking up early Tuesday and working two hours from home before business hours on said tables. Now I have to recreate those tables, and the data in them. Four hours of my life, wasted. Miscommunication just plagues our relationship with IT, and outsourcing and Sarbanes-Oxley have just amplified the problems.

Besides that unsettling news, I got copied on an e-mail from my manager regarding some complaints about our service. Why is it some people are just complete and utter dicks? One colleague, who shall remain nameless, has done nothing but bitch and moan about my project since he came into the picture. This individual is a very bright person I'm sure, but instead of making actual contributions to the project, has used his energy to deride and insult this team and anyone associated with them in his usual smug and sanctimonious manner. Heaven forbid this person should ever make an error in judgment - which he has, instead splitting hairs with laser-like precision in order to avoid the semblance of fallibility.

There's another contributor to the program who has been antagonistic with our team in the past, but at least her venom has had some reason behind it, and I think she has made actual effort to improve our application. Whereas this other individual just seems out to run us into the ground, or at least take a few shots at us to bolster his ego.

I'll be the first to admit service has been a nightmare (can you say, "outsourcing"?) but these people are doing their best (at least, as best as they can do as contractors, since they have neither familiarity with our business processes nor incentive to help Sun as a whole). They have shown improvement. But it's not their responsibility to correct or validate data if the morons who filed service tickets can't do it correctly. Said morons are employees, they should be able to file a ticket without f'ing it up.

I love working at Sun, but right now I just want to go home.

Slow news day.

Sadly, not much to report today. As usual, I'm pretty wiped out. Both Rhonda and I have been under the weather with allergies. She's back to getting up early again for new teacher orientation. It's exciting since she has her own class this year for the first time, and also because she should be signing a contract soon (no more of those sub rates). Well, exciting for one of us, at least...she just said a couple hours ago, "I can't wait for June 16." This from the person who's been off for two months. Like I'm going to have much sympathy.

Speaking of getting up early, I had to wake up with Rhonda to do some database work during off-hours. Then I get my con-call to India in nine hours. Lucky me...

At least the Giants are winning, beating up on the lowly Reds. If they get Barry back, they probably still have a shot. They've hung in there on this road trip against some tough pitching And to everyone who's complained about how much they suck, at least they haven't dropped seventeen straight.

I'm going to try to cram in some culture tonight by reading something before I knock out. But before I go, I'll leave you with this gem: Va. Laptop Sale Turns Into a Stampede