Well, the hard drive has been switched without too much incident…. hopefully my hardware problems will go away now :)
Oh, and I went to a Renaissance Faire today to see Peter act. It was fun, but unfortunately I forgot my camera. If you want to see pictures, Beth may put some up soon.
As for current events, this is the coolest rumor I’ve heard in at least 36 hours, and this should interest (or depress) Chris.
…. because crap like this is waaaay too familiar.
But, after this upcoming Wednesday, I am done with this forever. I can’t wait. I just have some trials to complete on Monday, providing I get paid first.
Tonight I watched Kill Bill, and really liked it. The fact that I got to see it for free didn’t hurt, of course, but notwithstanding that I think that this was a really great movie. Sure, most of the people I saw it with weren’t quite as fond of it as I, but meh- this is my blog :)
I think the best part about this movie is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously- and there’s a healthful serving of camp in there to keep geeks like me amused. The movie had pieces of lots of other movies in it- going down the list of the ones I jotted down in the theater (or afterwards): Pulp Fiction, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Matrix, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Aeon Flux, and A Hard Day’s Night. An odd assortment, to say the least, but each piece fit into the whole to make a truly entertaining movie.
Sure, the plot and characters are a bit flat…. but it’s a damn fun movie to watch, and that’s the point :)
And now, on to this week’s Friday Five:
1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?
Not really, but then again I don’t really watch much of anything, except anime and movies. One day, I’ll get Tech TV, and that will all change….
2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?
Errr…. I irrationally (and quite inactively) root for the following teams, for reasons unknown:
Well, I guess the main reason is obvious- they are all local teams! As for why I like the Mets over the Yankees, I really don’t know. That’s just always been how it is :)
3. Are there any sports you hate?
Not really, no. I’m pretty passive-aggressive to all of them.
4. Have you ever been to a sports event?
Yeah, I’ve been to quite a few baseball games- they’re fun.
5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?
Haha! That’s funny! Pull the other one!
Woohoo! I’ve been offered one interview already! And it’s actually for the job that I am most interested in doing, too. It’s on Tuesday, wish me luck!
In other news, I saw this rant today on ‘Why Star Trek Sucks’, and felt the need to comment on it. Arguably, I feel that the ranter is being a bit overly critical, but on the other hand- he’s also right. Many of the things brought up are things I had noticed myself (e.g. why Deep Space Nine sucks; how Star Trek has gone from a bright, fun, campy sci-fi to a dark, dreary, intergalactic soap opera), although I don’t get nearly as upset about them as he does. Anyway, it’s definitely worth a read- especially if, like me, you find yourself liking the original Trek (even the ‘bad’ episodes) and progressively hating everything since.
Random link for the day: Six-legged Cow!
Mood: effervescent
Music: Star-Trekking Across the Universe
I’ve been relatively busy working on my own projects and stuff for OBW and Zirius, but I think it’s finally time for some (almost) downtime! Yay!
I say almost because I have jumped into the job search full force- and applied to at least 4 jobs (some by real mail, even!) in the past 24 hours. I know, 4 may not seem like a lot, but as a point of reference, last time I was looking I would usually apply to less jobs than that in a week. That’s not necessarily because of laziness (though that probably doesn’t hurt…), but mostly because of the amount of positions out there I feel qualified for. Either I am becoming more confident/qualified (possible), or entry-level jobs are becoming less and less “7 yrs. experience- Cobol, Basic, C, Active X, PHP, Java, Perl, HTML, ColdFusion, Peoplesoft, Oracle required” and more, well, suitable for the term entry level. Who knows. Anyway, none of it matters if I don’t get a full time, permanent, salaried position soon! tekniklr is dying, needs pay badly!
In other news, I have recently started watching Record of Lodoss War (the OAV), and I have to say- it rocks. My favorite animes may start shifting again in the near future…..
Oh, and I’d like to wish a nice, big, public, happy birthday to my friend Mike, who apparently doesn’t really celebrate birthdays. Well, toooo bad! :D
Oh, and I almost forgot! I don’t have to report to Jury Duty tomorrow! Lucky! :D:D
Just what I needed now that money is scarcer than ever…. one of my harddrives (the primary one; the other is backing it up via rsync {and hasn’t been proven trustworthy, yet}) is dying. Of course, I intend to replace it before that happens. But it still sucks, as now I need to figure out which brand to get, and shell out cash (that I don’t have) for it.
Other recommendations on what type of drive to get are welcome. I want something reliable, semi-quiet, and in the 40 GB range (I don’t really need any bigger than that… and it looks like there is a price jump around there)…. And although SCSI is übercool- I’m gonna have to go with IDE now until I can justify spending lots of (plastic) money.
Apparently thu current decade is being referred to as the Noughties by some people. Well, I get it, certainly…. but I still think it may be a bad idea to encourage an entire decade to be naughty :)
Seriously though…. wouldn’t referring to it as the “Noughts” be wiser?
Oh, and the article? That’s interesting too… I guess…. if a bit asinine.
I just got back from day two of Anime Next, which was fun, if not tiring (I blame that on lack of sleep more than anything else).
Here’s what I checked out:
Anyway, that’s all for me for this con. I’m too tired to get up early tomorrow morning, as well- and I’ve got other stuff that needs to be done (more on that later, hopefully)!
I’ve just returned from an anime convention located relatively close to my house, Anime Next. I’ve participated in a few events so far, but I haven’t taken too many pictures yet (2.5)- I’ll post those after the weekend is over.
As for the events I’ve participated in so far:
I really like this convention, it’s in a great location, has interesting panels, is well set up, and is decidedly doubleplusuncrowded (oppose: BAAF).
Anyway, if you care about the Friday Five, keep reading.
Continue reading
Somewhere along the way, many people lost sight of the fact that the main point of life, is to enjoy it. That’s an incredibly broad statement, I realize, because different people find different things enjoyable. But it is fair to assume that we do the majority of things that we do to make ourselves happy (e.g. we work so that we may have money to enjoy ourselves in the future).
I bring this up because today I had a conversation regarding the fact that I am helping Peter set up and run a haunted house as a fundraiser for the town this halloween. I was asked what we get out of it, and the person wouldn’t acceopt “We are doing it for the fun of it” as an answer. They kept asking what the benefit of it was (yes, a conversational infinite loop).
I find the fact that people find ideas like this so hard to accept disheartening….. if you can do something for free, and it would make you happy to do so, and it would benefit others in the process, then certainly, you should do it. Well, that’s my opinion anyway….. some share it, others do not.
Well, if such ideas are incompatible with business, so be it. I’d rather work where I could possibly make a difference or help people anyway.
Which brungs us to the next topic of conversation- I quit (one of) my job(s) today. Again. Last time, I ended up backing down at the last minute, Part of that was because of other things that were bothering me at the time. This time, that’s not going to happen.
Firstly, I’ve realized it’s not getting any better, my total wages are still laughable, and the work grates my morals the wrong way. I cannot with a clear conscience participate in Search Engine Optimization. Furthermore, what passes for the ‘technical’ work that this job provided was nothing more than simple data entry. There was absolutely no room for me to grow, learn, or use those coveted (feh!) computer science skills in this environment.
Secondly, although I was thinking about quitting today from the start, I received some sage advice from a most unlikely source- a client we had a meeting with today. He said that many people stay with jobs that they hate, or are going nowhere, just out of laziness, or of hopes that things will get better. You must enjoy your work, at least most of the time (it will never be perfect, but you should at least shoot for something that you like 70% of). If not, don’t wait any longer- just quit. And look for something that suits you better.
That advice, coupled with the conversation I mentioned above (about deriving ‘benefiit’ vs. enjoyment) that occured in the car ride over, convinced me. I don’t believe that coincidences like this come from nowhere, and I have hated this job for quite a long time. The fact that I tried to quit once already is evidence enough for that, if you want more, just ask any of my friends.
Anyway, now the task at hand is finding real work. The kind that is 40 hrs/week, pays a salary, and gives benefits (pun intended). Wish me luck.
