Blankshield

And in today's weather report, Alberta has finally warmed up enough to snow.

I hate this country. If it wasn't for my friends and family and the fact that I love this country, I'd move in a heartbeat.

To quote Shrek "Sure, it's big enough, but look at the location!"

James

As of today, it has now been more than 5 weeks since our Line of Credit has had any entries that are not "Payment- thank you"

Also as of today(1), the first digit of our net debt load went down by 1. It hasn't yet dropped that first digit entirely, and it's still too many digits for my comfort, but it is, at least, progress.

Go team!

[sigh] I hate living within our means. It's also been over a month since I've spent money on my hobbies. No new Lego for the Lego monster. Not for a long while, anyway.

James

1: (well OK, as of Tuesday, which is when our mortgage payment comes off. But it didn't show up in the numbers until today so mleh.)

*voopa voopa voopa*

[DING]

NOAH.

"What!"

HOW LONG CAN YOU TREAD WATER?

Well, the end of January is approaching, and I haven't snapped yet (as I threatened back on the 23rd), but it's getting closer. My work situation has not substantially changed; I still have about 25-30 open calls on the go at any one time, and I do not have the time available to go over old calls and deal with the paperwork associated with closing them. On top of the 25-30 calls of actual work, I have about 7 or 8 calls of "finished, but do this paperwork before it can be closed".

The workload, insane though it is, isn't really why I'm going over the edge, though. I feel like I'm getting my chain yanked. As you may (or may not) recall, I was quite please near the end of last year to be finally getting out of [the place I work at]. Then I was grumbly because I was having to stay out here a little bit longer, because we couldn't find a printer guy to replace me.

Now I'm pissed. The guy we hired to help with the workload at the office (they're busy too) was not a printer guy; he was a server guy who had a little bit of printer knowledge - or so it was relayed to me. Everyone at the office though, was calling him "the new printer guy" I was willing to let it slide, because my bosses are good people and wouldn't screw me like that; it was obviously a miscommunication. In the new year - since this guy came on board - I have had zero new calls from head office; all my workload has been [the place I work at]-related. It is not that we have not been getting printer work through head office - we have - it is that the new guy is doing it.

My company has been very good to me in the past, and because of that, I'm willing to let things slide for a while. I'm also willing to cut them a little slack because the other guy who works the [place I work at] account damaged his ankle pretty badly, and has been off work for more than a week, and will be off work at least a week longer. But I'm not going to let this go forever. I've been asking to get out of here for 2 years now, and I'm right royally pissed that now we finally have a workload that will let me move into the office, they cut it out from under me, and have given that work to a new hire.

In February I'm going to request a meeting with my bosses, and if it doesn't get me where I want to go, I'm sending out resumes. If we're having a hard time finding a skilled printer guy, I guess that means we're in demand. Supply and demand goes both ways, folks.

James

Well, having been inspired by a combination of my slowly sliding health and several friends taking up excercise disguised as violence, I am back at Temple Kung Fu. After a brief interview in which they tried (and failed) to find my student record - they destroy records after 8 years - I signed up for a short stint (8 lessons) of "what do you remember, and how quickly do you remember it " classes. The instructor was impressed. So was I. All of my basic stances, kicks, blocks and punches were good form, and need only practice to regain a decent balance and lose wobbliness. I was a bit fuzzy on what things were called, but hey, after a decade of not training, whatdya expect?

The instructor wants to kick me up a level and put me back into the belt program; he commented at the end of the lesson that I would almost certainly pass my yellow belt if he administered it on the spot. The best part of the whole session, however, is that I left with more energy than I came in with. That feeling is what had me training every day when I was a callow youth and had time to burn, and I'm pleased that I've retained that.

Tomorrow, I will pay. This also is the same.

James

The internet is evil. Or I am weak-willed. Or both.

I haven't gotten any really good stretches of writing in on my story since November. In November, I took my computer away from it's umbilical to the world, and sat by the fireplace and wrote. Since then, I sit down to my computer to write, and check my e-mail, because it's right there. And I'll start writing, but want to "quickly check that" particular factoid and spend an hour either on google or the Ten Worlds forums or the Ad Astra site. I will look up, realize I've long past overrun the time I have available to write, and have gotten about 10 words down.

Note to self: find screws, put laptop back together. The chairs by the fireplace are comfier too.

James

There is a catagory of computer geek that I shall dub the screw-loose. You know they person - heck, if you're reading my blog, you've probably *been* the person - who has needed to get into the guts of his computer often enough that he's stopped bothering to put the screws back in? The case just sort of sits there loosely (or not at all) and the screws are in a little baggie somewhere "so they don't get lost"?

I used to be one of the screw-loose, but haven't been for many years because, well, I've got a laptop.

Last night I put the screws that hold my laptop together into a little baggie so I don't lose them. It's been quite some time since they've actually been in the laptop. Sigh.

If you see me heading out of the house with my laptop, remind me that it will fall apart if looked at wrong.

James, screw-loose and fancy free.

This is a public service announcement.

My wife would like to play Settlers of Catan. Right now. In fact, if you were to call her, so long as she was not actually asleep, and say "Let's play Settlers!" she would say "OK." If she were asleep, she would say "mrggffmpl?" followed shortly by "Hmmnh? Catan? Ok."

The time you read this announcement does not matter.

Thank you.


James
(and I'd get to play too!)

The toast I made at Old Year's Wake this year has been buzzing around the corners of my brain; mostly because I was irritated at having phrased it poorly at the actual wake, so here it is in a more thought-out form. Maybe now it'll leave me alone.

It is often said that people are like good wine - they improve with age. I would add to this that as we age, like good wine, the flavour can change, and the bottle grow dusty - these things don't matter. The true trick is in not becoming bitter.

James