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Oct. 17th, 2001 09:44 amWednesday.
Wednesday?
Wednesday!
It feels like it's been forever, this week, these past few days.
The Camaro was dead in the garage from Friday morning to Monday night. My guess was the battery and I was all for going to the local Pepboys and having it tested. Mike and Vlad thought it was the starter or the solenoid and wanted to consult Tito, the engine guru of the group.
So no work was done on the Camaro all weekend. Friday, Mike drove me to work. Monday, I borrowed my mom's spare car...a 1984 4-cylinder Mustang with non-functioning A/C and heater, a short throw on the gas pedal and an extremely worrisome long throw on the brake pedal. Oh, yeah, and it needs a new muffler, too. Lemme tell you, I have a new appreciation for my own car!
I'm spoiled by all the modern electronic gadgetry of the Camaro, like auto-headlights. When I returned the Mustang, I parked in my parent's driveway and accidently left the lights on--in the Camaro, they turn themselves off. After dinner, my dad was going to run me back to my house in the Mustang...and, you guessed it, the battery was dead. Unfortunately, he had let his battery charger get too low, so we had no choice but to push the Mustang out of the driveway and park it on the curb. Sounds simple, especially considering the house is elevated from the road, BUT there's a dip at the end of the driveway. We had the hardest time getting the car up and out of the dip! I couldn't believe what a tough time we had! My old Monte Carlo was MUCH heavier than the Mustang, but it rolled much easier the few times (well, many) I had to push it! Anyway, after we unblocked the driveway, dad drove me home in his Caddy.
As it turns out, I talked to Tito that day and he listened to the symptoms. The words were barely out of my mouth when he said, "The battery." Exactly what I thought. Mike drove me to the nearest car parts store (and, yes, I said, "I told you so!") that night and we bought a battery.
After pulling out the old battery, we realized the new battery didn't fit. The parts guy had steered us wrong.
ARGH!
So back to the auto parts store. Got the RIGHT battery and went home to install it. Forgot, however, to buy replacement bulbs for my brake lights. Evidently I've been driving around for weeks without brake lights! ::sigh:: We had just changed them about a month ago, but somewhere I've got a drainage hole clogged and my tail lights fill up with water every time it rains, shorting out the lights.
So my car was operational again. Hurrah!
Of course, Tuesday I got a warning from a cop about my non-functioning brake lights.
I was expecting it all day long, I was absolutely paranoid about it. Why? Because I now knew about it. While I was blissfully unknowing, I was protected by a shield of ignorance. Once I knew about it, I probably exuded an aura of guilt that reached out to every cop in the area! :)
On the bright side, at least he didn't notice the expired tag! :P I have this mental block, for some reason, about getting my tag renewed--at least that was my excuse the first two weeks. Now I'm just waiting until tomorrow--I've been flat broke and busted all week.
So Tuesday night we worked on my tail lights. Mike had SOME spare lights, but we needed more, so we went to Wal-Mart and put the lights and some bulb grease in the cart, along with the Phantom Menace DVD... The cashier got confused, had charged us for two of one light, only one of another, and missed one all together, and ended up re-ringing the whole thing up.
We went back into the garage to finish up the tail lights job, but realized early on that somehow in the transaction, the bulb grease disappeared. We also realized that we were missing one of the three types of bulbs that go into the tail lights. ::sigh::
So back to Wal-Mart, picking up the bulb grease, the missing bulb type in question, soy milk, and dried fruit mix (mango munch, which the bunny and I like)(you notice this trend here? how there's always a few extras in the cart?). Finally, we got my tail lights working, somewhat. For some reason, the right turn signal blinks slower than the left, but it's enough to keep me from getting a ticket.
As I mentioned, Monday, I came to work to find trees down and workmen on the roof. I realized later it was MY part of the building and specifically the tree in front of MY window that had toppled and put a hole in the roof. So I've been working to the musical sounds of chainsaws all week.
Last year we had a Chili Cook-Off and a costume contest at work for Halloween. Robin had an idea for a costume, but we talked him out of it... He was going to come in his normal business casual dress, but have money overflowing all his pockets, and a name tag that was engraved, "Robin Xxxxxxx, Lockheed Martin" (our main competitor). We all cracked up but decided that management would be most unappreciative of the sentiment.
A bunch of malcontents went to lunch yesterday; I ended up going to lunch with Vlad and Mike, since it was one of their infrequent visits to this office these days. Evidently Robin regaled the bunch with the story of my e-mail misadventure from last week and got himself spun up about it again. My attitude about the whole thing is now, "Whatever!" My indifference has become complete. I'll sit in my little office and churn out pages and try not to fall asleep on the keyboard, and leave promptly 8.5 hours after I arrive, and I'll never volunteer for anything ever again, or offer to go that extra mile. I am simply passing time until I get a nibble from elsewhere. Then I'm GONE.
Out of the 13 developer/designers left after the lay-offs, five have applied to the main competition or elsewhere, and 1 has been on a waiting list for specialized training for a government job for a while (and this is known). Of the six artists, two have applied to the competition.
[Tedy just came into my office--last night he dreamed he found out I was a mastermind spy and that Winona Ryder played me as a teenager in the movie. In fact, he had both watched and been a participant in the movie, which started with him being rousted by a host of FBI agents. He watched my entire history unfold as a movie, how I was recruited as a teenager in high school, how I earned a scholarship to some prestigious private school, but what was in reality an operative training center, how I worked in all kinds of hot ops for several years before settling down at my present position and becoming a mole-type informant... And then the conflict when my handlers want to reactivate me, but I've settled into my life and don't want to be recalled. Since Tedy knows I'm an operative, he must be eliminated... He woke up before he found out what happens, whether I try and take him out... Darn, sounds much more entertaining than anything I'm doing now! ;)]
Wednesday?
Wednesday!
It feels like it's been forever, this week, these past few days.
The Camaro was dead in the garage from Friday morning to Monday night. My guess was the battery and I was all for going to the local Pepboys and having it tested. Mike and Vlad thought it was the starter or the solenoid and wanted to consult Tito, the engine guru of the group.
So no work was done on the Camaro all weekend. Friday, Mike drove me to work. Monday, I borrowed my mom's spare car...a 1984 4-cylinder Mustang with non-functioning A/C and heater, a short throw on the gas pedal and an extremely worrisome long throw on the brake pedal. Oh, yeah, and it needs a new muffler, too. Lemme tell you, I have a new appreciation for my own car!
I'm spoiled by all the modern electronic gadgetry of the Camaro, like auto-headlights. When I returned the Mustang, I parked in my parent's driveway and accidently left the lights on--in the Camaro, they turn themselves off. After dinner, my dad was going to run me back to my house in the Mustang...and, you guessed it, the battery was dead. Unfortunately, he had let his battery charger get too low, so we had no choice but to push the Mustang out of the driveway and park it on the curb. Sounds simple, especially considering the house is elevated from the road, BUT there's a dip at the end of the driveway. We had the hardest time getting the car up and out of the dip! I couldn't believe what a tough time we had! My old Monte Carlo was MUCH heavier than the Mustang, but it rolled much easier the few times (well, many) I had to push it! Anyway, after we unblocked the driveway, dad drove me home in his Caddy.
As it turns out, I talked to Tito that day and he listened to the symptoms. The words were barely out of my mouth when he said, "The battery." Exactly what I thought. Mike drove me to the nearest car parts store (and, yes, I said, "I told you so!") that night and we bought a battery.
After pulling out the old battery, we realized the new battery didn't fit. The parts guy had steered us wrong.
ARGH!
So back to the auto parts store. Got the RIGHT battery and went home to install it. Forgot, however, to buy replacement bulbs for my brake lights. Evidently I've been driving around for weeks without brake lights! ::sigh:: We had just changed them about a month ago, but somewhere I've got a drainage hole clogged and my tail lights fill up with water every time it rains, shorting out the lights.
So my car was operational again. Hurrah!
Of course, Tuesday I got a warning from a cop about my non-functioning brake lights.
I was expecting it all day long, I was absolutely paranoid about it. Why? Because I now knew about it. While I was blissfully unknowing, I was protected by a shield of ignorance. Once I knew about it, I probably exuded an aura of guilt that reached out to every cop in the area! :)
On the bright side, at least he didn't notice the expired tag! :P I have this mental block, for some reason, about getting my tag renewed--at least that was my excuse the first two weeks. Now I'm just waiting until tomorrow--I've been flat broke and busted all week.
So Tuesday night we worked on my tail lights. Mike had SOME spare lights, but we needed more, so we went to Wal-Mart and put the lights and some bulb grease in the cart, along with the Phantom Menace DVD... The cashier got confused, had charged us for two of one light, only one of another, and missed one all together, and ended up re-ringing the whole thing up.
We went back into the garage to finish up the tail lights job, but realized early on that somehow in the transaction, the bulb grease disappeared. We also realized that we were missing one of the three types of bulbs that go into the tail lights. ::sigh::
So back to Wal-Mart, picking up the bulb grease, the missing bulb type in question, soy milk, and dried fruit mix (mango munch, which the bunny and I like)(you notice this trend here? how there's always a few extras in the cart?). Finally, we got my tail lights working, somewhat. For some reason, the right turn signal blinks slower than the left, but it's enough to keep me from getting a ticket.
As I mentioned, Monday, I came to work to find trees down and workmen on the roof. I realized later it was MY part of the building and specifically the tree in front of MY window that had toppled and put a hole in the roof. So I've been working to the musical sounds of chainsaws all week.
Last year we had a Chili Cook-Off and a costume contest at work for Halloween. Robin had an idea for a costume, but we talked him out of it... He was going to come in his normal business casual dress, but have money overflowing all his pockets, and a name tag that was engraved, "Robin Xxxxxxx, Lockheed Martin" (our main competitor). We all cracked up but decided that management would be most unappreciative of the sentiment.
A bunch of malcontents went to lunch yesterday; I ended up going to lunch with Vlad and Mike, since it was one of their infrequent visits to this office these days. Evidently Robin regaled the bunch with the story of my e-mail misadventure from last week and got himself spun up about it again. My attitude about the whole thing is now, "Whatever!" My indifference has become complete. I'll sit in my little office and churn out pages and try not to fall asleep on the keyboard, and leave promptly 8.5 hours after I arrive, and I'll never volunteer for anything ever again, or offer to go that extra mile. I am simply passing time until I get a nibble from elsewhere. Then I'm GONE.
Out of the 13 developer/designers left after the lay-offs, five have applied to the main competition or elsewhere, and 1 has been on a waiting list for specialized training for a government job for a while (and this is known). Of the six artists, two have applied to the competition.
[Tedy just came into my office--last night he dreamed he found out I was a mastermind spy and that Winona Ryder played me as a teenager in the movie. In fact, he had both watched and been a participant in the movie, which started with him being rousted by a host of FBI agents. He watched my entire history unfold as a movie, how I was recruited as a teenager in high school, how I earned a scholarship to some prestigious private school, but what was in reality an operative training center, how I worked in all kinds of hot ops for several years before settling down at my present position and becoming a mole-type informant... And then the conflict when my handlers want to reactivate me, but I've settled into my life and don't want to be recalled. Since Tedy knows I'm an operative, he must be eliminated... He woke up before he found out what happens, whether I try and take him out... Darn, sounds much more entertaining than anything I'm doing now! ;)]
