This past Summer I had a second job which helped make ends meet or almost (I've seen what an actual economic recovery looks like; A real recovery looks like 1983, not like 2013). This was opening at a small convenience store (once upon a time such things were merely "gas stations") every Sunday. I had this job before, where I'd opened Saturday and ( Read more... )

Actually, I think that should be the "Unrealized Truth About Managing People." About a week ago an article in ComputerWorld made the rounds, The unspoken truth about managing geeks, and got a lot of positive reaction. While it talks about IT Professionals, it applies to anyone with enough brains to not swallow every bit of nonsense some idiot ( Read more... )

Arrangements have now been made for sharing a room at MFF, so that's one less thing to worry about.

Someone at work remembered that I've been there for ten years. The upshot is that I got a check I had not been expecting. That will help with MFF.

And yesterday and today I saw readings below 160 on the scale.

Cops showed up outside work and hauled a raccoon away.

For some time at work I've had a non-ideal monitor arrangement. The monitor was low and I was always looking down at it a bit. I'd asked around about a monitor stand on and off for a while. Nothing ever came of such inquiries.

Yesterday, just before leaving for the day, I looked around for something that might be a workable substitute. The ( Read more... )

Friday there was an e-mail telling folks to dress for Halloween. This hadn't happened for the last few years. I hadn't really planned on anything, as I had no real reason to dress the part, I don't really feel like cheating with my faire garb, and the Orvan outfit, even if I could get away with it, hasn't even been started, really. But I didn't ( Read more... )

There are times I accidently drop a word from something I write and it changes the meaning of a sentence rather badly. Often the word is "no" or "not" which reverses the meaning. Today someone at work (no, not me) sent a short e-mail and omitted a word in a rather embarrassing manner.

There was no body, just the subject:

Small black found in ( Read more... )

I'd expected the return to work after a week away to be annoying, with a backlog of email and a few orders that are wanted yesterday if not sooner. No such luck. That would have better than what actually happened. The backlog of email was sorted out quickly, but it had something far nastier than an urgent order in it. A sudden company wide ( Read more... )

While it is not my birthday, nor the anniversary thereof, there have been a couple folks at work yesterday and today that did have their 40th. They both wound up with black balloons and that sort of thing to indicate aging and such. It seems to be a tradition, but really, it's not so much a tradition as merely a rut. It's a default bit that isn ( Read more... )

With this post, rillaspins reminded me of a bit about the water dispensers at work. We used to have the typical water cooler with the 5-gallon or so jug that would need replacing every day or two. Then a while back we got these gadgets that filter the city-supplied water into something that doesn't taste as miserable as city-supplied water.

These ( Read more... )