howeird | Entries tagged with humor

Mostly dull day at work except for one amusement. I asked a hardware engineer and a software engineer if they could find me a piece of hardware which both had worked with so I could check out a bug. S/W thought H/W had it, H/W thought a third engineer had it, who said the lat time he saw it S/W had it. Bottom line, I didn't run that test today.

Did some work for Automation Guy.

Lunch was at Denny's. Traditional Grand Slam.

After work 6 pm appointment at Sassy Nails. I was 5 minutes early. They were 20 minutes late, and halfway through she got up to schmooze with some waiting customers. Didn't get out of there till 7:15. Boo, hiss. And this was the appointment she had me delay a day.

Home, dinner was smoked turkey leg, with a side of green peas smothered in margarine, crushed garlic and thyme. Domino bothered me for turkey all through the meal. Annoying because it's hard to carve those.

After dinner I took the tripod out, figured out how to use the heavy-duty quick-connect on it. Screwed the quick-connect to the bottom of the telescope and mounted it on the tripod. Flop! Unmounted it, and moved the connect up to the front hole in the scope. Much better.

Took it outside to look at the moon, which was huge and right where I thought it was supposed to be. However the telescope kept flopping down, I couldn't keep it aimed. Turns out the tripod is defective, the handle which is supposed to screw in to hold things horizontal didn't work.

Online, looked up my telescope and ordered the tripod which the manufacturer suggests for it. It's also a good photography tripod, so worth the extra $$.

Brought everything back inside and put it away for now.

Nothing in the mailbox tonight.

Did some laundry - whites. Last night two pairs of Levi's arrived, to replace one fraying pair and one pair of Wranglers which are way cheaply built, possibly counterfeit. The new ones are a size apart, but they both fit.

I have been swapping around people I read on LJ, so if you don't see me leaving comments it's just me rotating the crops. One person I had not been reading is back on my list because he/she/it is an entertaining writer, and I had heard rumors of divorce and a sex change operation which I found hard to believe. Turns out some of that was true, some not so much. Also added back someone who used to write way too much. Added because he/she/it has a very scary small world relationship with me of which said person is unaware. And the spouse's name is a variation on one of my sisters' names. But so far I haven't seen any posts. Maybe they went goodbye or flocked their posts.

Plans for tomorrow:
Be lazy
Attend a 1 pm presentation at the library by master gardeners on the care and feeding of fruit trees.
Buy a pot and rolling stand for the lime tree and relocate it outside.
be lazy some more

Current Mood: lazy
Current Location: Home of the Weird

susandennis:
Wondering if you actually tried your ATM card or just didn't notice this:

My no-name ATM card from an obscure credit union works just fine, is why I'm asking.

Interesting morning, I woke up at about 3 am and found myself pushed to the far side of the bed with Kaan stretched out across the bed instead of from head to foot. After a trip to check the plumbing, I repositioned him and took back my half of the bed. Slept till the alarm/lights went on at 7. Decided I needed more sleep so got another hour in.

After I was up and dressed and drugged, I realized I had nothing useful to do at work, so following the logic of the spheres, I removed the work-provided out of date, mostly useless Symantec Endpoint Protection software which was required to VPN into the office, and installed the latest Norton's which Comcast gives me for free.

Just for grins, I launched the VPN software to see what would happen, and lo and behold, it downloaded a new version and in 5 minutes I was connected to work. I launched email, and it told me it needed a security number, which it had left on my voicemail. At work. So I called my work phone and there it was in voicemail. Then I remote desktopped into my work PC and sent email to the boss that I would be in around 10:30 because I had installed the new IT software, which IT had not bothered to tell us about. Typical.

Wrapped that up, went to work, found some useful things to do but mostly piece-o-cake things. On my lunchtime to-do list was to rectify the situation with the car where it was showing a woefully depleted gas tank. There were only 2 pairs of cars ahead of me, about a 10 minute wait. Pulled up to the pump, and the card reader was being held together with the thin plastic tape which is used for ??? nothing I can think of. It took three passes to get it to read my membership card, then it misread my ATM card and I had to start all over. Finally turned to push the button for the type of gas I wanted, and sticker shock hit big-time. $3.899! The last time I filled up it was something like $3.489. Thanks Obama for helping make the rich even richer.

And about that 9/10 of a cent - something my dad taught me the first time he gave me a quarter and sent me to get a gallon of gas for the mower was the price they show in big numbers is almost a cent less than the price they will charge you. One would think that some time in the last 50 years Congress or the FTC would have ordered the price to be displayed in full cents. Or at least for the 9/10 to be the same size as the rest of the price.

Next stop, since I had a ton of time, drove way down to across the street from where I used to live to see if my eyes were deceiving me, or if the Carl's Jr which had been there forever was really now a Pizza Hut. Well, not quite. It is a Round Table Pizza. So I had lunch there. I like their pizzas, and liked the brand new clean place, and the friendly staff. I did not like the salad buffet which was designed for people < 4'10" tall with a 40" reach. The stuff in the salad buffet was good, except for the day-old mushrooms.

Back to work, read some specs, wrote my weekly report, and bailed at 5:30.

Since it was early, I went to the Starbucks on Mathilda near Lucky's, ordered a mint tea, and tried to do some stuff on the laptop, but the wifi was over-tapped by the dozen or so people on it, so I folded it up and went shopping. There was nothing I needed but the freezer was looking depleted (i.e. things were not falling out when I opened the door) so I got some stuff. But first I headed for the wine department and was surprised to see they had the obscure wine which I liked at the Coast Starlight wine & cheese tasting. A Riesling from Chateau Ste. Michelle. They also had its sister, the sweet Riesling, and they were on sale for $8 a piece so I bought them both.

Home, stuffed the freezer, petted the cats, finished installing stuff on the laptop which took no time at all over the 5GHz connection, and decided to make some more fondue from scratch. Smaller batch than last time. Cuisinarted two blocks of Emmenthaler, and one of Gruyere. Poured about 2/3 of the Reisling into the pot and stirred the cheese in. Last of all, a few shots of Kirsch. It needed some corn starch to thicken, but not much. I already had a big bag of cubed sourdough defrosting, and sliced in a banana too.

Very yummy meal, as I watched CNN lose all sense of newsworthiness by devoting full time to showing their people out in the snow in NYC and Boston. I guess in Atlanta snow is much more important than a trained counterinsurgent sharpshooter evading the LAPD; a 15-year-old Middle Eastern girl, who had been shot in the head, speaking in clear concise English that she was not deterred from promoting female literacy; or Buster Posey admitting he and Tim Lincecum were friends.

So I switched to the Weather Channel, where they were matter-of-factly forecasting snow for South Dakota.

Earlier today I entered 5 of my Lincoln misquotes in a juried art show at the Ark Art Gallery. The theme is text in art. It's a stretch, but who knows?

In other art news my Boskone art show photos made it to Boston. Glad I didn't send them by ground.

Plans for tomorrow:

Maybe go to the set shop to work for a couple of hours. Maybe.
5 pm coffee w/Janice. I hope to hear about her adventures as a Red Cross volunteer in NJ.
Cheetah's? I need 1's and I need to break a $100 bill.
It also may be time for a massage. I've been having cramps in my calves in the mornings lately. Pretty normal for me in the winter.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Location: Newest Furball Hall

Current Mood: amused

Someone posted this Photoshop on FB this morning:

And then someone made some enhancements:

So I took it a bit further:

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Home of the Weird

One more performance to go. Tonight's audience was mostly dead. Few laughs, and the ones we got were weak. They woke up and exploded at the end of each major dance number, but that's mostly because they are amazed at how long the dance numbers are, and that everyone is still vertical. I am too. After the show, greeting the people as they file out, they were very low key, even the many friends of cast members. This is not too strange for a Friday crowd, they have mostly worked all day, and their minds are elsewhere.

Final show Saturday night. I am so looking forward to not being stuck in this rut anymore.

Home, found the box with the video of the last time I did the show, and after some driver installation got the USB capture widget to work, and recorded the big duet I had. The director of the current show plucked the original version from the 1967 or 1935 script, which is a trio. More verses, and not as well written. That show was a disaster too, but in totally different ways. I really enjoyed playing my part by the time we got onstage. Not so much this show.

There's a line in the show where the leading lady asks the leading man why he has a fried egg on his jacket pocket. It's a school crest. The brilliant costume person gave him a dark blue college patch, total FAIL. So I have made him a fried egg patch using Photoshop and a T-shirt transfer. It looks pretty good. He will laugh. The leading lady will laugh, but I think this will happen backstage because he probably won't be stupid/brave enough to wear it onstage.

The company picnic photos have been on the PC since 9/19, I finally tweaked them and uploaded them to Flickr. And sent a share note to my boss. The rest of the group gets to see them Monday.

Work held a surprise. The automation script I'd maybe finished yesterday worked without a hitch, so it has been sent to Automation Guy. The rest of the day was spent doing paperwork around the tests which cannot be automated.

Lunch was Agape, a Greek grill. The seafood kabob was okay, but pretty dry. Some day they will learn to not put the hot meal on top of the salad.

Plans for tomorrow:
Sleep
Open more boxes, put more things away
Recycle some boxes and wrapping paper
One final performance, stupidly followed by striking the set. There is a cast party Sunday, but I'm not interested.

Current Mood: drained
Current Location: Home of the Lost

Not much to do at work, team meeting, boss said he would print out some test cases I could be doing, but that didn't get done till 5:45. Lunchtime two of my buddies decided to walk to Specialties, which is about a mile away. Not in 85° for me, besides I am no longer in any shape to walk a mile. I told them I'd meet them there. I waited half an hour, but did not see them on the trip there, and they were not at the place. I waited 10 minutes, then went out to the car to get my Kindle, and ordered lunch. They finally straggled in 50 minutes after they left work. I didn't see them because they took the trail, which adds at least half a mile to the walk. After lunch I gave them a ride back.

Costco after work, I had coupons for a total of $5 off of two items I usually get there. Had a list of another 10 or so, got everything on my list and a couple of things which would have been on it if I had been thinking. At the checkout, she pointed out the coupons are not good till the 10th. Damn you, Costo! I've had them for a week now. Before they expire I'll need one of those items again.

Just enough time to get home, put the stuff into the fridge/freezer which needed it and walk to BASFA. Half a house tonight, but Crazy Ed makes enough noise for any 8 of The Usual Suspects. Ed is on a different planet than the rest of us. I did manage to get in one of the best zingers of the year tonight, thanks to low-hanging fruit provided by

johnnyeponymous. Two people chipped in to pay the pun tax (even though I'd already paid it). That's a nice tribute.

I didn't say much else, no announcements, no reviews. Should have announced Train Day, but our biggest train buff was working late and not in attendance.

Home, watched Undercover Boss. This episode was a testimony to what happens when a company hires good people at all their branches. The CEO/founder is also good people, which apparently is his only skill. Sometimes love is enough, Patty Smyth.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work. Run some tests which should have been automated years ago.
Bemoan the fact that it is only Tuesday.

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Home of the Weird

Got to do some actual work today. Plucked some test cases from the newly-reset database and ran a couple. Two co-workers went home with colds.:-(

Lunch was at Denny's, kind of by mistake. I decided to drive down a road where I'd seen an off-brand gas station on the theory that where there is gas there is food. But there wasn't, and the road made a 90° turn to El Camino, and heading back toward work got me to Denny's. Had the Senior chicken fried steak, which was pretty good, and < $10.

Petco had sent me a notice that they had shipped the package of 6 litterbox refills which I had canceled after they missed the previous 2 shipments. So I called Fedex and told them to send them back. They sent the notice Sunday, but the package didn't actually get out their door until today. When I called, it was still sitting at Fedex in LA , about 3 miles from the Petco warehouse.

The Christmas/winter decorations are up all over the place at work, and it is really disgusting how much of them there are, but very impressive how quickly they were set up. After work I went to a party store and got a cardboard palm tree and a couple of paper leis, which will be replacing the xmas stockings which were stuck on the outside of my cubicle.

There's a Safeway next door to the party store, so I picked up a handful of items which I'd forgotten the other day.

Fed the cats, swapped out the 2nd litterbox even though it didn't quite need it, and here I am at the tool of satan.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Figure out a way to not attend the lunchtime holiday party in the break room, surrounded by Christmas trees and other highly denominational and asininely wintry decorations.
Oh wait, looking at the Moto calendar, the party is the 15th, and I have my sleep apnea appointment that afternoon. Easy enough to take a half day off.

Current Mood: miffed
Current Location: New Furball Hall