Zwanzig
Wow, it has been a long time since I've updated this thing, hasn't it? Mostly that's because for quite some time pretty much anything I would add would be "zomg, work is taking over my life. I have time for nothing, this sucks... blah blah blah." It would have been too emo even for my tastes. Plus, typing the same thing gets boring pretty quick. Work is still hectic, but my supervisor situation has made a dramatic improvement, and I'm generally feeling more appreciated. Which is good, because it's kind of annoying when you're the only person who knows how two of the systems that run the factory work, yet you're still considered an "entry-level" developer. The way things are going, I think it's conceivable that I could be a senior dev within about five years. But anyway, enough about work. Work is boring. The only reason I work is so that I can pay for my toys. Speaking of which, behold my new toy:
His name is Zwanzig. And yes, he is way too skinny at the moment. So, as many of you already know, I've been looking for a horse for quite some time now. In the process, I've been ran away with, nearly kicked, refused to get on obviously batshit insane horses that were marketed as "beginner safe", had several horses come up lame when I went to look at them, 1 horse fail vet check, and even had a horse colic, while I was looking at them. Of course, none of that was the horses' faults, but needless to say, it's been a bumpy road.
Zwanzig, as many of you proficient in German will agree, translates to 20, which is how much I paid for him. Yes, you read that right. $20.00 American dollars. And, yes, there's a hell of a story to go behind it. It begins Monday of last week, when I had just had a bad weekend to follow a bad week, as a Pinto mare I was dead set to purchase came up lame on a vet check. Angry at the world , and angrier at my corporate oppressors, (did I mention it was a Monday?) the week was not looking terribly promising. Until 10:30, at which point an e-mail shows up in my inbox with a link to a horse ad from my friend Jen, who strongly suggested I make an appointment to see this horse. Recognizing a golden opportunity, and a way to get my mind of of both work and the lame mare, (hope she's ok, the poor girl's only 7), I made the call. The owner told me that there was somebody coming with a trailer on Saturday to come get this guy, so we made an appointment for Friday morning. Friday morning, me, Zhizhu, Jen and Michelle hitched up Michelle's truck to Jen's trailer, and off we went. There's more to the story that I'll write up in a separate post, so I'll sum it up here:
Jan: We'd like to buy your horse.
Seller: How much can you pay?
Jan: I have $20 in my purse..
Seller: Ok!
Yes, I'm serious. That was the extent of the negotiation, almost verbatim. There's more, but I'm exhausted from spending the weekend playing with my new horse. I'll update more tomorrow.
His name is Zwanzig. And yes, he is way too skinny at the moment. So, as many of you already know, I've been looking for a horse for quite some time now. In the process, I've been ran away with, nearly kicked, refused to get on obviously batshit insane horses that were marketed as "beginner safe", had several horses come up lame when I went to look at them, 1 horse fail vet check, and even had a horse colic, while I was looking at them. Of course, none of that was the horses' faults, but needless to say, it's been a bumpy road.
Zwanzig, as many of you proficient in German will agree, translates to 20, which is how much I paid for him. Yes, you read that right. $20.00 American dollars. And, yes, there's a hell of a story to go behind it. It begins Monday of last week, when I had just had a bad weekend to follow a bad week, as a Pinto mare I was dead set to purchase came up lame on a vet check. Angry at the world , and angrier at my corporate oppressors, (did I mention it was a Monday?) the week was not looking terribly promising. Until 10:30, at which point an e-mail shows up in my inbox with a link to a horse ad from my friend Jen, who strongly suggested I make an appointment to see this horse. Recognizing a golden opportunity, and a way to get my mind of of both work and the lame mare, (hope she's ok, the poor girl's only 7), I made the call. The owner told me that there was somebody coming with a trailer on Saturday to come get this guy, so we made an appointment for Friday morning. Friday morning, me, Zhizhu, Jen and Michelle hitched up Michelle's truck to Jen's trailer, and off we went. There's more to the story that I'll write up in a separate post, so I'll sum it up here:
Jan: We'd like to buy your horse.
Seller: How much can you pay?
Jan: I have $20 in my purse..
Seller: Ok!
Yes, I'm serious. That was the extent of the negotiation, almost verbatim. There's more, but I'm exhausted from spending the weekend playing with my new horse. I'll update more tomorrow.