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Did I leave the door open?

December 29th, 2006. Published under General. 4 Comments.

There are days where I don’t shower before going to work. If I don’t work out the day before, or really run around a lot to the point where I’m a bit…well…not so fresh, then I’ll shower.

There’s other days, like today, where I don’t need to. This lets me sleep in at least another 15 minutes! You all know how I enjoy to sleep in.

The unfortunate side-effect of this “sleeping in” benefit is that when I leave the house, I’m still a bit sleepy. Not so sleepy that I can’t drive safely - but when I get to the park & ride to catch my bus, I’m hit with the nagging suspicion of “did I close the garage door?”

For a normal person, this little tidbit would not cross their minds. However, I am not so blessed to not be nagged by this. Why?

Because I’ve left the door open before, and it’s haunted me ever since.

Last February/March, when I was working 9-1 at the normal job on Saturdays for their busy season, I pretty much did the whole “no shower/sleeping in” thing because, well, I went to work in sweats and nobody really cared because they did the same damn thing. This one particular Saturday was normal, I went to work around 8:30am, and returned home around 1:30pm…to an open garage door.

I had been gone for over 5 hours and my garage had been sitting wide open, a lot of my belongings sitting open and free to the world (since I had just moved in, a lot of my stuff was still in the garage) and the door into my house was also unlocked.

Thankfully, there weren’t any roving bands of thieving pirates in my neighborhood that day (and my ghetto neighbors hadn’t moved in yet) and fortunately for me, nothing was stolen or even touched, for that matter.

Now, unfortunately for me, I get a bit obsessive-compulsive about either making sure that damn door is shut or worrying about whether or not the door is shut.

I have done the following on one occasion (or more):

1. Drove more than 5 miles back home to make sure the door was shut.
2. Made Tim turn the car around and drive back home to make sure the door was shut.
3. Freaked out for an entire weekend while I was out of town, nearly calling friends of mine to drive by and make sure I shut the door. (I had, but I did worry all weekend about it.)
4. Gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to check because I didn’t remember shutting the door.
5. Called Tim at home from the bus to have him check to make sure the door is closed, usually getting him out of bed. (which is what I did this morning.)

I feel bad for doing these things, but if I hadn’t had such a massive lapse in consciousness, reason or whatever you want to call it in the first place, I wouldn’t worry about it now. Despite the fact that ever single time I’ve checked since that one incident - the door had been shut. It doesn’t stop me worrying about it every once in a while.

Now before you write me off as some lunatic - this only happens maybe once or twice a month, tops. It’s not like I go through this nervous “washing the hands, washing the hands” twitch every damn day. It’s like I convicted my brain of a crime, it’s now on parole and I’m its parole officer checking up on it.

Ok, so that was a weird analogy.

I think I need more coffee.

Borg Sandwiches

December 27th, 2006. Published under General. No Comments.

I want to know when the hell Subway changed their Steak & Cheese sandwich.  Changed it from the delectable sliced steak to these Borg-like cubes of steak sandwich hell.

Seriously, have you ever made a sandwich where the primary filling were 1/2 inch cubes?  It does not make for a pleasant sandwich-eating experience.

BRING BACK THE SLICED STEAK, DAMMIT!

I do recall about two years ago, they went through the phase of calling the Steak & Cheese sandwich the “Cheese Steak” sandwich.  I still ordered it as a “Steak & Cheese” and I got the same damn sandwich.  I noticed they don’t call it that anymore, but reverted back to the old name.

Except they RUINED it by changing the meat!!!  Cubes!?  WTF!?  Cubes may work for Chipotle, but they’re not making sandwiches.

Seriously, Subway, what’s next - whole fried turkeys in your sliced turkey sandwiches?!  Hell, why not just use the entire steer in my Steak & Cheese sandwich!?  Can’t a girl just get a sandwich without having to deal with “new and improved” sandwich fillings and eat in peace?! And no, I do NOT want any sauce on my sandwich.  I would tell you if I did, so quit asking!!!  YES I’M SURE I DON’T WANT YOUR GROSS SOUTHWESTERN SAUCE ON MY BORG-CUBE SANDWICH.

Seriously.

Makes me want to eat at my favorite Japanese restaurant whenever I go out for lunch from now on.  It’s more expensive, but they don’t go around fucking up their Age Gyoza with “new and improved” ingredients nor do they ask me if I want sauce on my stuff.  If you don’t tell them to, they won’t give you sauce.  That’s how it should be.

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I also seem to have screwed up my RSS feed because I changed my post URL’s to “friendly” URL’s instead of the regular gobbledy gook that normally displayed.  Version 1.5 didn’t give me that option - so if I messed up your feed reader, I do apologize.

You got your PHP in my Christmas!

December 27th, 2006. Published under General. 2 Comments.

Christmas 2006 has been amazing.

I got quite the selection of gifts from Tim and his family - the family gifts we took pictures of on my Flickr gallery. Why we neglected to take photos of our own gift opening, I have no idea.

A few of my gifts I got a couple of weeks ago, because Tim wanted me to have them early. That was the Saitek keyboard (it lights up blue, red or purple!!) and March of the Penguins (because I said I wanted to find it on pay-per-view and he already had it wrapped under the tree).

I got a lot of awesome gifts - but the one that truly gobsmacked me was the Product Red iPod Nano Tim got me.

I literally sat there with my mouth agape looking at it.

Back around a month ago, I had to devise a list of Christmas gifts for his family to choose from.

So I sat down and wrote down everything large and small I could think of. Most of it was books, but I had that Nano on there too. I never thought in a million years that I would receive that as a gift, however. But I love it. He also got me the Nike+ thing and a cute little pocket that velcros to your shoes in lieu of getting the specific shoes to use it. It works pretty well.

I just hope my foot heals up soon so I can get back to running on a more regular basis.

I had tendonitis in my right foot a few years back and I re-aggravated the injury a few weeks ago. So not much running lately.

Anyway, Tim and I had two amazing days together where we had to do nothing but spend it with the other.  It was quite nice. :-)

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I spent the past few days configuring the WordPress installs for the new project and fighting with the PHP code for the syndication feed we needed to use.

After getting totally frustrated with the confusing PHP code, I took a break and upgraded my own WP install from 1.5 to 2.0. Since my old theme didn’t jive exactly with the new install, I took a new theme and tweaked it. I then went downstairs and played Final Fantasy 12 for about an hour.

The funny thing is that when I went back to the coding, it just all made sense and I got it working in around 5 minutes. Now all we need to do is polish the rough stone that is the site, develop the different themes (and content!) and we’re in business! I can’t wait to go live!!

On a more serious note…

December 21st, 2006. Published under General. No Comments.

I’m taking a moment out of my day to get this thought down.

No matter what things you have going on in your life, you should be thankful for those things you have that you take for granted.

A roof over your head.

Clothes to cover you.

Safe and plentiful food supply.

Not having to fear for your life on a daily basis.

Every day I work here, the more my cynicism crumbles and the more thankful I am that I live where I do, have the people in my life that I do and have the resources available to have a safe, healthy and happy life.

Not everyone in this world can say that.

However, it is nice to know that there are people out there doing something to try and make that change for those people, no matter how small. I’m thankful I can be a part of that change.

Be good to one another.

Happy holidays!
~Carolyn

The Sounds of the Season

December 18th, 2006. Published under General. No Comments.

*achoo*

Yep. I seem to have developed a cold. I’m going to blame it on Ye Olde Retaille Jobbe.

At the moment, I’m at work - but will be leaving shortly.

* * * * *

Just bought the last (I think) domain name for the new project. Due to lack of knowledge of PHP and the inability to customize things just like I want to without that knowledge - we’re going to scrap the Drupal install in favor of developing using WordPress instead.

However, if I’m going to be sick, I’m not going to get a lot done. Goody.

Well, hope you are all feeling better than I am!

Fun With Technology!

December 12th, 2006. Published under General. 3 Comments.

Go to Google.com and type in the following search phrase:

Brilliant!

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Once again, the holidays are upon us. Once again, I’m working in a retail job over the holidays. Granted, it’s not my full-time job, but still. Grumpy people.

But then, I’d rather have a grumpy person than the woman who was high on Percoset on Saturday. I knew it was Percoset because she told me. She also told me way too much personal information for my liking, although I attributed that to the drugs.

Had she only been heavily medicated, I could have been ok - but this woman was also one of those snobby, rich, entitlement bitches. So add on the heavily medicated state onto that - and you get a customer who’s a handful. Seriously - I needed a drink after helping her.

This past weekend, I was trained in the banking office for the part-time job - so now I can put in hours doing the daily balance sheets and deposits. After the holidays, I’m hoping I can switch my schedule to just do that every other weekend. I’m really sick of the sales floor.

* * * * *

In other news, since the Widget Minneapolis is now over, the plans for the new project are moving along swimmingly. We’re going to keep the same crew from the Widget Mpls team and do a new show - but there’s going to be so much more that will go along with it. It’s going to make your head spin!

Not to be a tease…but that’s all I’m saying about it at the moment. Rest assured, I’ll be pimping it on here once we launch.

I’m the main “code-monkey” for building the site - and right now, we’re flirting with using Drupal for the content management system. My hurdle right now is understanding the PHP code for this program and how to make the program work the way I want it to. I may pick up a PHP book to help that process out - or I’ll just hack and slash my way through it just like everything else. I still have to deal with RSS feeds, potential subscriptions and feed readers too. I’m leaving the forum configuration to others. Thank god - I hate setting up forums.

More on that later.

* * * * *

I was looking back to last December in my archives and I’m amazed by how far I’ve come in just one year. One year ago yesterday, the bid I put in on my townhouse was accepted. A few days later, I bought my Mazda3. I started my life over again.

A year ago, I never thought in a million years that my life would be so wonderful today. But it is - and I have the best man in the whole world to thank for that.

Life is so very good. :-)

Gifts for People You Hate

December 7th, 2006. Published under General. No Comments.

In lieu of “real” content (I’m way too busy right now) - here’s a hilarious article I found on Digg.com:

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Top 10 Gifts for People You Hate
by Cecilia Paluch on Wed, 2006-12-06

There inevitably will come a time in your life that the obligation of the season will prompt the dreaded, but necessary, gift for someone you can’t stand. It may happen every holiday, because that person could be your mother-in-law, your boss, your sister, your college buddy’s obnoxious kids or your best friend’s wife.

Don’t fear, you can use this opportunity to your advantage. All it takes is a little creativity and some fore-thought. Think about what you would give to someone you care for, and then do the exact opposite. Focus on what they love - to hate.

1) For repeated pleasure, the gift that keeps on giving is the magazine subscription – to whatever they hate the most. If your father-in-law’s favorite holiday rant is about how all those g*d-damn [insert racial category here]’s are ruining the g*d-damned neighborhood, make sure he’s on the mailing list for whatever group supports them wholeheartedly. Donations in his name to The American Association for Affirmative Action would go over well, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) could do the trick. Don’t forget the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

2) Know-it-all right-wing push-their-religion-in-your-face every-chance-they-get fanatics would love a weekly subscription to American Atheist or a slew of porn mags sent straight to the office. Nothing says “Loosen Up A$$h*le” like porn.

3) What about giving a single ticket to any event no one would ever want to go to solo. This can have multiple desired effects. It either forces the gift-ee to shell out their own money to bring someone along, or alternatively they will be left crying in their seat when no one talks to the LOSER who came ALONE because they have no FRIENDS. Adding a camera as a stocking stuffer would complete the humiliation, and plus you’d get more of a return.

4) PETA members would especially appreciate the irony of a lifetime National Rifle Association (NRA) membership. Be sure to get the email address of the hated one, you can do a heck of a spam job if you hit all the sites that will piss them off the most. The Fur Commission even has a great holiday list. Also, consider making a donation in their name to some such dead-animal supporting organization.

5) And for the tree-hugging hippy in your life, deodorant is too obvious. You don’t want to seem cheap. Toss the vegans a nice steakhouse gift certificate. It’s normally quite a thoughtful gift, but under these circumstances it becomes a nice, passive-aggressive way to tell them to shut the f*ck up.

6) And for the truly uptight couple whose marriage is on the rocks, a gift-certificate to the local sex shop is a home-run in the “let’s make someone uncomfortable” department. As long as it can’t be used online. Also, be sure to include a note that outlines how you figured they could use this; after all those lengthy conversations you’ve had about how terrible their sex life is.

7) Do you and your mother-in-law share nothing but a strongly silent hatred for each other? What better gift than a tastefully framed picture of yourself to adorn her mantle. She’ll have to put it up - you’re family.

8) And if she is always complaining about her weight, (this goes for any female on your list) pick the most aggressive Weight-Watchers plan you can find and sign her up. Or gift her with a copy of “Eat Fat, Lose Weight” or “The Cooking Light Way to Lose Weight.” Just in case she doesn’t get the message, it’s right there in the title. Too bad there aren’t any “Why Don’t You Shut Up, Get off Your Fat Ass and Do Something About It” cookbooks.

9) For that obligatory gift for the child of abhorrent parents, any loud, annoying toy will do. A percussion set (drums, tambourines, bells) is a great way to get right to the core of their frustration. A couple of months of “practice” with those puppies and your investment is sure to pay off. Same goes for a karaoke microphone with a horrible learning sing-a-long CD. And beebee guns. Those pushable corn poppers are always a hit. Typically, any toys marketed by Nikelodeon tend to have a low parent/child approval ratio. Just make sure that it eats the hell out of batteries.

10) Nothing says apathy like those pre-packaged Pepperidge Farm gift baskets. Same goes for socks (itchy, obviously) and especially the old-standby, the fruitcake. Only if it’s re-gifted of course. Christmas-themed clothing works. Big Mouth Billy Bass is perfect for this category. Plus it’s annoying as hell.

Show them you don’t care. Go out there and do your best, turn this situation around and give yourself a present in the process … the gift of others’ unhappiness.

Merry Christmas! LOL