Running Blog

Just some random thoughts throughout the day:

It's been two weeks since I've picked up my phone to speak with someone. Which is okay. (I'm not soliciting phone calls here, people.) It makes me realize, though that it really wouldn't be worth it for me to get a cell phone. $30 a month or more for a device that wouldn't be used. No thanks.

I listened to some Queen on my walk to work today. It seems wrong to me that they didn't really get famous in the US until Wayne's World.

A co-worker just thanked me for wearing my only green shirt to work today. Like I did it for her and all I could think was "Bitch." I told her that I didn't do wear it for her, that I was planning on wearing it for a while; I knew what this day was coming up a while ago. She smiled and said, "I'm just impressed that the men here actually came through." Bitch. And the reason she came to me to say this is because the day before Valentine's she told me to wear red and I said that the only red shirt that I had was dirty and buried under a weeks worth of clothes. She said I should just wash it. I said that I wasn't going to spend that evening doing laundry for one shirt. She said that I was a disappointment. Bitch.

A different co-worker forwarded me an e-mail with a Power Point document that had really wonderful satellite pictures of Earth. The best were composite shots that show the whole planet in darkness. The problem with this thing is the message in the e-mail which says: "You may notice that some are composites (such as the North Pole view of the Earth) that are made of several photographs. Remember, the Earth is a sphere and the sun is always shining on half of the Earth, so some of these photos are made up and couldn't be seen by an astronaut." (I'm the one who bolded the text there.) Who out there who is on the internet and would get this e-mailed to them believes that night falls across the world at the exact same time? How many people out there, in general, can't remember that the world is a sphere? Did the original creator(s) of this document think that people are so stupid that they'll think the pictures were taken during an amazing celestial event that happens only once in a planets existence where the sun goes out and the whole world is bathed in darkness for a short amount of time? I think many people are stupid, but not that stupid. We don't live in an Asimov short story, people.

I just admitted to a co-worker that I didn't do any work yesterday afternoon so that I'd have work this morning so I can look fairly busy for at least four hours out of my work day. While I didn't admit to this part, it's something that I do everyday now. Is it like this at most other office jobs?

Okay, for the past hour, I've screened all the mail I got yesterday afternoon, I put the stuff that goes to a judge in the judge's box, I've put the stuff that goes back to file back to file. I have only five pieces of mail left from yesterday. Four of them need me to pull files, enter stuff in the computer, and then drop the files of where they need to go. One file I need to call a law firm and pester them about sending a notice of representation so I can process the damn paperwork sometime next week instead of today. All the work I have left will take me thirty minutes after my break if I just work on it, an hour at most if I spend time reading stuff on-line. After that, I still have two hours until my lunch and more mail comes.

In the "break room" I saw a plate with some deviled eggs. Someone put relish in them. Yuck.

Whenever I wait for an elevator to arrive at my floor, I stand about five feet away from the door so that if there are people there's plenty of room for them to walk. Other people don't seem to do that. They stand right at the door and then seem surprised to see people in the elevator trying to get off and then seem angry that they have to take a step back from the door to allow the people in the elevator off. Courtesy, people, it's cheap to own, easy to give away, and I'm pretty sure most people appreciate it.

So, the movie that I really wanted to go and see this weekend, Thank You For Smoking, is opening next weekend. I guess I'll have to settle for the other move I want to see, V for Vendetta.

The hour is up and my work is done.

Just had this forwarded to me. I've read it before and don't care if it's actually true because it's funny. Read:

Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane but only a high school diploma to fix one. Reassurance for those of us who fly routinely in our jobs. After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last..................
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

Here's a bizarre tidbit from Wikipedia:

D'Armond Speers and his wife began raising a child bilingually in English and Klingon; Speers spoke in Klingon and his wife in English. A few years into his life, the child began rejecting Klingon and gravitating towards English, as he could use English with many more speakers. The fact that Klingon lacked many words for things that were important in a baby's life, such as "diaper", and "pacifier", was a lesser issue. At the time of Speers' attempt, Klingon even lacked words for many objects common around the house, such as "table". The experiment ultimately failed when the child discovered that his father understood English.

I've been working on this thing for nearly five hours and I haven't mentioned that I stuffed my crock pot with corned beef, carrots, and red potatoes. When I get back this evening, in goes the cabbage for another hour or so before I break that mother out and gorge myself and a delicious and fatty traditional meal.

Back from lunch. I've been taking walks on my lunch to get away from the inevitable irritation caused to me by my supervisor's lack of ability to not keep quiet when she's in a room with another person, who seems to be me more often than everyone else. Usually I take a right out of the building, then a right on the first street crossing, then a right several blocks later because I don't want to have to cross the street to cross the cross street to continue on the first street; the next right is taken when I've been on my lunch between 25 and 30 minutes and then a right on the next street; after that it's a straight shot to the street that goes in front of the building I work at, which I turn right on and then right into the building. Yesterday, I did a different walk. I walked back to my apartment because I was hungry.

One thing I like about having my lunch from one to two is that it's only an hour until I get to go on my break. That makes if feel like the second four hours of the work day go by much more quickly than the first four.

Once again, I'm sitting at my desk with a pile of work that I don't plan on doing. If I do it and I complete it, I will be expected to do someone else’s work on Monday, which I think is worse than spending most of the day pretending to do work. One of the secretaries has come through several times in the last two days and said that she thinks we're not getting as many things in the mail as we used to. I think she's right since I only have twelve pieces of work to my left. It seems that my stack used to be larger. Of course, back then there was also one less employee. And another employee was sick (or took off) for six weeks. Who knows what's true.

Just found out that the amazingly funny and smart show "Grosse Pointe" has been released on DVD. This is one I want for my collection. Too bad I don't have the money for it. The way I once heard this show described is that what goes on behind the scenes of a high school tv show is more like high school actually was. That's pretty accurate, if I remember the show correctly. It fits so well with "Popular" (which I still need the second season of, by the way), but I don't think the two shows were ever aired together. They should have, though.

I'm doing my laundry this weekend. I think I'm allergic to the soap I used that last time I did my laundry, so I'm going to go to the store tomorrow and buy the same brand that I used before the last time I did my laundry. I sure hope it's the problem because my armpits itch a lot. And what's worse, they sting if I put deodorant on. I haven't worn deodorant since Tuesday. Lucky thing I don't sit directly next to anyone.

So, I think I'm done here. According to the note I gave myself, I started writing this thing at 7:56AM and I'm finishing at the time on the bottom of this post. Have a decent weekend folks. I know that I'm not aiming for anything greater.