I wore my costume to work today because we have a company Halloween costume contest. Plus, I figured I went to all the work of making it and I'm only going to one party, so I should make some use of my effort, right? So I did.

Went to the contest at noon and found that about 11 of us dressed up, with varying efforts. People all morning had commented on how cool they thought my coat was and they were pretty impressed that I had made it myself. I have to admit, I'm pretty pleased with myself and with how it turned out - it's a good looking deal. Even though nobody's seen Equilibrium, so I just copped out and said it was Neo from The Matrix. Same difference, right?

Anyway, the contest had four categories - funniest, most original, scariest, and coolest. Of those four, I got the scariest costume. Scariest? You know what? I didn't question it. I don't win anything ever, so I wasn't looking the gift horse in the mouth on this one.

I walked away with a bag of M&M's and the DVD The Sixth Sense, which is a great movie that I don't have yet.

Amazing how a small reward and getting recognized for your accomplishments and hard work can make all the difference in the world.

It looks really rockin' with the wind going on and all.

I've been busy. WAY busy. Between hockey, housework, and other chores, I'm just not getting any time to relax. It's becoming a little more than I can stand. Hockey's fun, but I continue to maintain that once the season starts, it really cramps the schedule.

Jenn's still not done with her costume. I can only hope she's got it done by Saturday for the party.

We went over to my parents' house last night to help them make a flyer because they're selling their house. While my dad and I did that, Jenn and my mom went to Costco. We tried to finish before they got back, but we didn't and for a short while it looked like it was going to turn into a too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen sort of thing.

But we got it done, and Jenn and I got home with enough time to price all of the stuff that we'll be putting into the garage sale that my parents are having on Saturday, which I will be helping out with after my oil change that morning. We have to take our stuff over there tonight because there's a hockey game tomorrow night and we won't have time.

The company all-hands quarterly meeting happened today. Among other things during the meeting, they recognize certain individuals who give an outstanding effort towards the betterment of the company. Recognized people get a $50 gift certificate to a local restaurant (or wherever they happen to get certificates from this quarter). After they recognized several engineers who helped out with different efforts, the VP of marketing got up there and said he had one person he'd like to recognize.

He described the person as helping to enhance the outward appearance of the company and make it look more professional. He said the person put forth quite the effort for our recent user conference and went the extra mile to ensure that everything was provided for. I almost tuned out, but then he said that the person was "the guy behind the new corporate web site." Huh? I didn't do anything for the user conference... so that must mean...

That's right - the guy who handed me the graphics to base the web site off of was the guy who got the recognition.

He basically handed me screen shots, folks. I did all of the implementation work. The magic that makes the site functional? Me. The new dynamic navigation system that allows easier content management on the back end? Me. The templated standardization and easy updates to the global look and feel? That would be... me. Oh, and the server hardware and software upgrades and security enhancements on the back end were also me.

The guy who got recognized did come by and say that, technically, I was the guy behind the site, while he was the guy in front of it. Which was very cool of him to acknowledge, but it's interesting to see that what the rest of the company, outside of my department, sees is that he did all this work. And, of course, when it was my boss's turn to speak, he threw in the "Travis did the back end work" comment, which was also nice. Not quite on the visibility level as the previous recognition, though.

Our department, Corporate IT, got recognized very briefly for "all the good work we do keeping things together" and we're going to get to go to lunch at a "reasonable place." Cool. So they recognize this other guy for accomplishments he didn't even do and he gets $50, and our department gets recognized en masse and gets a $7.50 lunch. Sounds fair to me. What do you guys think?

Anyway, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stewing over this one. I'd like to think that I do some pretty good work around here, and the people who are directly involved with my projects - who know who's doing the work - are pretty damn happy with the stuff I produce. I'd like to think that if you want something done, anyone can do it, but if you want it done right then you come to me. And that's the kind of product I turn out.

Getting pretty much snubbed like that in front of the company has left a bad taste in my mouth. It makes me wonder what the point of working so hard is if you're not even going to get credit for the work you do. I'm sure others out there have gotten more than their fair share of this kind of thing, but this is the first time I've been out-and-out ignored for my efforts. So if I seem a little pissed off, that's why. And if you don't like me complaining about it, you can fuck off. I did the work, I should get the credit - even if that doesn't entail any sort of monetary reward. My work, my credit, end of story.

Today's Traffic Asshole is actually from Tuesday, but I got busy.

Every Tuesday I go downtown Hillsboro to get my allergy shots. Heading down there, I ended up getting behind this fellow:



This fine driver decided that it would be somehow safer to drive 25mph in the 35mph speed zone. Here's a message to all of those "safe" drivers out there:

Going 10 miles per hour under the speed limit doesn't make you a safer driver, it makes you a traffic obstruction.

That was in the fast lane, too. At one point I was blocked behind him, and in the other lane was another slow-mover. I thought to myself, "Great - Mexican roadblock." Then I remembered what area of town I was in and realized they very well probably were Mexicans. Ironic.

The picture I caught the guy in, he was finally moving into the slow lane, which was moving faster than he was. This is where he decided to cut in front of me, because driving slowly in front of me somehow makes people happy.

As I was walking out the door this morning, I saw what I thought was a crumbly wet leaf sitting in our entryway. Having just vacuumed, I decided to pick it up and throw it out the door.

It was cat vomit. I had just picked up a handful of cat vomit.

That's how my day started today. A handful of cat vomit. I guess you can only go up from there.

Friday night I went to a Winter Hawks game and watched them win, but it was a Pyrrhic victory at best. I never thought I could watch us win and think the game sucked so bad.

Saturday morning Jenn's family was having family pictures taken. Since the mall they were having pictures done was halfway to the store I wanted to go to that day, I said I'd go, too, hang out at the mall while they were getting pictures, then Jenn and I could continue on to my target destination.

We got to the mall at 10, but the mall opens at 10, so we all stumbled around trying to find each other because we all came in different entrances. The photo appointment was at 11, but when we checked in, we found they were running way behind. I decided to walk the mall.

I probably walked 30 miles. Jenn's family didn't even get in until almost noon, then didn't get out until nearly one. I have about an hour-and-a-half's worth of tolerance for the mall, so after three hours I was ready to leave before I hurt someone.

Jenn wanted to get food, so we went to Denny's. Now, Denny's is not somewhere that I ever plan to end up, but we somehow actually planned to go to Denny's that day. I won't go into details, but I left there feeling I had consumed way too much grease and I realized again why it is that I never plan to end up at Denny's.

After Denny's we made a Costco run - I got my copy of the Indiana Jones trilogy on DVD - and a Fry's run - I got Time Crisis 3, another light gun game, with the gun so I can play one person with two guns or two players.

Saturday night was another hockey game. We won again and it was better hockey all the way around, but it still didn't really get me into the game. Oh well, right? A win's a win.

Sunday morning we went to my parents' house and washed our cars. It'd been like a month since I'd washed mine and it was definitely time. That took most of the morning, and then we went back home and finished up the chores that we didn't get time for Saturday.

Sunday evening, besides watching Alias, we went to see the Cirque du Soleil production Alegría.

I'm a huge Cirque fan. I've seen Mystere in Las Vegas like three times, I've seen Saltimbanco and Dralion as they've come through Portland, and now I've seen Alegría.

While it isn't my favorite of the shows I've seen, I liked it. It definitely reminded me of the classic circus, but with an upgraded feel so it appealed to the child inside an adult. There were acrobats and trapeze artists and a strong man and clowns... and all of it came together wonderfully.

The thing about Cirque, though, is that, for me, it means more than just seeing the show. Seeing Cirque somehow renews my faith in humanity. It shows me that there can be form without function and that's sometimes a Good Thing. It shows me that you can be happy just for the sake of being happy. It shows me that creativity and beauty in the world aren't necessarily dead, and that you can be rewarded for instilling great emotions in people.

I sit in my cube all day coding. I hate coding. Sure, it takes some creativity to solve problems programmatically, but when all is said and done, all you've accomplished that day is pushing bits around. Did it make any real difference? Is there anything to show for it? No.

Seeing these shows makes me realize I really should have just gone for the art school and not done computer science. Now I'm pretty much stuck where I'm at, and without the money and time to go back and learn the stuff I should have learned to begin with, I'm not qualified to do anything else. But since I can't do that, it helps to know that style and art really aren't dead, and even if I can't generate them for other people, I can take part in the enjoyment.

I thought about maybe getting a job at the Cirque main office or something. Even doing what I'm already doing, but for a company where I fully believe in and support the product. (I mean, online banking software? Who cares?!) But then I also thought that once you see the underworkings of the beautiful machine, once you see that sort of thing every day... you may get anesthetized to it. Would it lose its meaning? Or would contributing to the effort be fulfilling? Somehow I don't think I'll ever have the opportunity to find out.

So I look forward to seeing the Cirque come to town, and I'm sad when it's over. While I'm there, I wish I could take part in it, living the dream. Until the next time they're here I'll just hope to carry the feeling inside me.

I finished my coat last night, washing it for the first time since it was fully assembled and then pressing it. My hem's not terribly straight, but the coat is flowy enough that I don't think you'll notice. As you can see, it's very similar to the coat Keanu Reeves wore in the second Matrix movie, but mine doesn't part in the front under the buttons the way his does. Damn close, though. I'm pretty proud of it - it's the first article of clothing I've ever really sewn.

I stopped after work to have dinner with Todd, a friend of mine I hadn't seen for a long time. It was good to see him again and catch up.

After I got done with that, I started heading home, but it took me 30 minutes just to get on the freeway and get to the next exit, just one mile down the road. I got off the freeway and stopped at Fred Meyer and wasted an hour in there so the traffic would die down. I ended up making it home around 8:00p. Ridiculous. The only thing that happened was that it had rained that day. We're in Oregon, folks. It rains all the time. Figure out how to drive in it.

I saw that the Indiana Jones trilogy is out on DVD. I've got a $10 off coupon for it at Costco; I'll have to go this weekend and pick it up.

I'm really digging iTunes for Windows. It does everything I want it to, with a few shortcomings:

• It doesn't synchronize your contacts with Outlook
• It doesn't automatically start up when I plug my iPod in
• When you lock your workstation using CTRL-ALT-DEL, it pauses playback (which is a problem if your screensaver locks your workstation but you're still listening to music)

The demo project I'm working on is quickly coming to a close. I'm done with it on November 7th, when we have to ship it to the sales guys so they can prep and show it to customers at RDC. Which means there are two more weeks until we're done... not much time, and a lot still to do. Here's hoping.

...Okay, I just typed this up and tried to post it. Got a "server not found" error. ARGH. Hopefully I'll get this thing posted at some point today.

I couldn't take a picture of today's Traffic Asshole of the Week because it's foggy out and all you really would have gotten to see with my shitty camera is fog with two taillights in it. Not too interesting.

Since there's no visual accompaniment, I'll make it brief.

Cruising along the freeway today - again, admittedly foggy - going about 60mph. I was one exit before I needed to get off the freeway and was driving alongside the freeway onramp.

As the person already on the freeway, it's my job to maintain speed and constancy so the guy on the ramp can adjust accordingly and properly merge. I had a three-second following distance behind the guy in front of me, and there was quite a bit of space behind me. The guy merging had plenty of space.

Did he take it? Hell, no.

He decided it would be a good idea to pace me - match speed and position so he'd eventually merge right into my side. I started getting worried because he was running out of room, so I sped up, at which point he decided it was a race and also sped up.

Hey, my exit was next, so I decided to slow down and let him in. I mean, who cares, right?

This guy merging saw that and then decided to slow down, too, so that he was again pacing me speed-wise, but now his rear bumper was going to merge into my front fender.

Time to lay on the horn.

You know what? The guy just continued to merge.

He slowed me down to 45mph, merging ever closer to my front bumper. I couldn't get around him because of the solid line of cars in the other lane.

He then stayed at 45 - 15 mph less than the rest of traffic - all the way to my exit. As I exited, he merged into the fast lane, still going 45.

What an asshole.

I went to the Microsoft Office System Launch Event in Portland yesterday, so I didn't get to blog. However, I did write an entry, and here it is...

I'm sitting in a reasonably dry lecture about integrating Office and Visual Studio and I realize I never wrote yesterday about my new HDTV.

Actually. The TV isn't new, just the HDTV service.

Jenn called the cable company and set up an appointment for Saturday between 8 and noon. Of course, to the cable company, that means ten after noon. Regardless, the cable guy showed up and basically all he did was give me a new cable box.

Next thing I know, I'm watching the crispest picture on TV that I've seen since I first got a DVD player. And the sound... Dolby Digital 5.1! Amazing!

HDTV is always in widescreen, which I wasn't aware of. And for the folks with smaller TVs, I guess that's not so great. For us with 40" tube TVs, that's just fine. Seeing programs in widescreen is a nice change - you get to see more, and it's a nice new perspective.

For example, Sunday night ABC showed Toy Story 2. See it on normal TV, it's full screen in stereo. In HDTV, it's widescreen and has a picture clearer than DVD.

The real experience was with Alias. Jennifer Garner in high definition alone is worth the cost of admission. That plus surround sound and I'm a happy camper.

If you have an HD ready TV, it's worth your while to get HDTV. Don't have the TV? Time to upgrade. I, personally, can't wait until high definition DVDs. Better picture, but yet another reason to re-buy all of the movies we have.

I finished up everything on my Halloween costume except for the hem on the bottom. It's looking really good. I put buttons in instead of Velcro as the closure (a Velcro closure? how cheesy), and it makes all the difference. Thank goodness for automatic buttonhole makers on sewing machines.

I forgot to post this last week, but this guy at work has one of the original Minis. It's very cool, and I'm admittedly jealous.

Friday I went DVD shopping with my dad and bought a crapload of stuff. I got A Christmas Story (20th Anniversary Edition), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (Special Edition with ornament), The Osbournes Season 2, The Italian Job, The Matrix Reloaded, and Strange Brew. I also picked up Resident Evil: Dead Aim for PS2, a game that will work with my GunCon 2 controller. Jenn got the Lion King collector's set. All in all, quite the haul.

I was going to write more, but I've taken like four hours to type this out because I'm fighting fires with our extranet domain controller, so I'll have to get back to it later.

I noticed for the last couple of days that my DNS forwarding from www.paraesthesia.com to paraesthesia.mildperil.net was on the fritz. Not sure why, but it's back now. That's a Good Thing, because I didn't want to have to fight the powers and move my DNS forwarding to someone else. What a pain.

My POP3 mail is back online, so I'm able to use Outlook Express instead of stupid webmail, and I'm mega-pleased about that. Took long enough.

My demo project at work is coming along well. I think I'm beating the expectations, which I try to do, and which I think people appreciate. I'm working off a 24 page spec document (each page has a screen shot of what they want), and I'm on page 23. Of course, page 24 is a bulleted list of things they didn't have time to mock up screen shots for...

I'm getting HDTV from Comcast this weekend. Tomorrow morning the cable guy should be at my place to swap me cable boxes and provide my gateway to the world of the HD. Looking forward to that. High-definition Alias, here I come!

Apple finally released iTunes for Windows, and I couldn't be more pleased. I was using ephPod (because Musicmatch Jukebox is a hunk of shit) and ephPod was giving me errors and refusing to sync my stuff. iTunes works perfectly (so far) and - best of all - it's free. I'm digging it. At some point, I may even buy stuff from the Apple Music store.

I got worked up at like 6:45 this morning, which I think is a little too early to be worked up. But I was, and it was all over the Pledge of Allegiance.

Apparently, there's this guy in California who wants to ban the "one nation under God" part from the Pledge. He's taking it to the Supreme Court, who has agreed to hear the case.

I have a problem with this.

I understand the guy's an atheist. I understand that he feels we need to be tolerant of other religions in the country and so on. Fine, whatever. Here's how I see it:

The United States of America was founded by Christian people fleeing from their country so they could practice their religion of choice. They decided that "separation of church and state" would be in the Constitution because they didn't want the government to tell them what to believe in. I agree with that wholeheartedly, and I don't think the government today should have any say in your religion.

That said, let's look around the world. Last I checked, if you head over to Asia, you're going to see lots of Buddhist temples and things of that nature. Are you offended by that if you're not Buddhist? Nope. That's part of their culture. Head over to India - I'm sure you'll see all sorts of temples and things surrounding the Hindu religion. Offended? Nope - part of the culture.

Now let's think about the culture of the US. Didn't take long, did it? Because we haven't fucking got any culture. We're all so busy fighting to make each other accept every import culture around here that we haven't developed an individual culture of our own. (Being self-centered tourists isn't a culture, folks.)

It's pretty apparent to me that religion is a part of any country's culture. You really can't have the one without the other, even if it's not pushed by the government. The Pledge of Allegiance is one part of the miniscule culture the US has. The "one nation under God" is part of that, and it has been ever since they decided it would be a good addition in 1954. Should we take it out so we can be ultra-tolerant of everyone else's religion? No. What's the next step? Redo all of the money because it has "In God We Trust" on it? What about other countries? Should Canada take out the "God keep our land glorious and free" part of their national anthem? When does common sense kick in around here?

What really kills me is that it's not even a denominational "God" - it's not "one nation under the Christian God" or anything. Which, thus, implies that atheism, as it stands, is a religion - the belief that there is no god - and this guy is trying to push his religion through the government. Isn't that just as bad?

It's my opinion that it's about time to start allowing the US to have a culture of its own. It's my opinion that it's about time to stop attempting to accommodate for everyone's feelings and just go with the majority vote - it's a democracy here, not a consensus. If you don't like how the US runs things, move out. Let's wise up a little and stop this nonsense.

That's me - takin' care of business.

Last night I worked for an hour or two on my Halloween costume and got it quite a bit further along. Hopefully I'll be able to nearly finish tonight. There are a couple of alterations I want to make to the pattern (like putting in buttons or snaps instead of velcro for closure) which I have to figure out when I get it closer to complete. But that makes me happy - getting something done there.

I also watched the 1969 version of The Italian Job, which was pretty good. I had never seen it before, and now some of the choices they make in the recent incarnation make more sense. There are lots of behind the scenes things on that disc I need to check out.

I ordered a new computer today. P4 2.66GHz, 40GB HDD, 1GB RAM, nVidia GeForce4 MX 440 video card, DVD-ROM, Windows XP Pro, IBM ThinkCentre M50. All for $971, plus $10 shipping, which I can't complain too much about. I've been meaning to upgrade for quite some time now, so I seized the opportunity. That should be here in a couple of weeks.

I worked some more on my new pMachine blog and I think it's just about ready for prime-time. I hate putting things out there that are "almost done," but I think it's just about time to move on from GreyMatter and upgrade to a more complete blogging system. Better for you guys, too. I'm going to have to import all of my entries from GreyMatter to pMachine, which is going to be a bitch, but we'll get there. Maybe this weekend if I take the time.

Or maybe I'll be playing Time Crisis 2 instead.

Found some stuff I want...

Remote controlled Acura RSX from Radio Shack. Just like what I drive, except mine's black and doesn't look like a rice racer.

Light gun games, many of which aren't available in the US. The Police 24/7 one looks especially cool, but isn't over here yet. I'm hoping it'll show up soon.

This was the first truly decent weekend I've had in a while. I'm not ridiculously tired this morning and I don't feel like I wasted my time. What made it better? In no particular (or chronological) order...

We quit Atkins. After a week and a half and eleven pounds lost, we quit. I've been known to say, "If someone said I could never have chocolate again, I'd be fine. But if someone said I couldn't have bread, I'd want to kill myself." I think I proved that I was right - it was the lack of bread that made me hate everything and everyone. Now that I've had a bun on a burger, I'm doing much better.

I've decided to get a new computer. I'm going to get a pretty decent deal on a P4 2.66GHz machine through one of the myriad employee purchase programs that we've got set up at work, and it's about time. I'm tired of fighting my computer to go, and the boot up time is ridiculous.

I got time to work on my Halloween costume. I'm going to be a Grammaton Cleric from the movie Equilibrium (which looks a lot like Neo from The Matrix, but is much cooler). I've got it about halfway done, and I'm actually enjoying the sewing of it quite a bit. There's something about making something tangible (as opposed to, say, computer code, which is vastly intangible) and having something to show for your work that is extremely rewarding to me.

I played a load of Time Crisis 2. I really dig the light gun shooting thing, and this is a damn fun game. Hell yeah.

I bought a few movies at Costco. I got the 1963 edition of The Italian Job for $12.99. I also got a two-pack of movies for $20: Payback and Face/Off. And the two-pack has a $10 off coupon for the Indiana Jones Trilogy coming out on the 21st. So, basically, I got two movies for $5 each. Not bad.

That's about it. It doesn't sound like a lot got accomplished, but the relaxing part of the weekend was nice. I'm hoping to continue that into this week, finishing up my costume (which I can see will potentially become very frustrating as I near the end) and watching some of my new movies.

I have a two-in-one traffic asshole for you today.

On Tuesday of last week, I was coming home and I noticed that my usual exit to get home there was quite the backup. Turns out there was a car parked diagonally across the right-hand lane of the two-lane exit.



Normally I might feel bad for the guy whose car this was, since a broken down car is not fun. But then I thought, "You know, a nice person might have rolled the car around the corner into the emergency lane so nobody would be blocked." That, coupled with the fact that the exit was backed up for like a mile, made me much less sympathetic.

Okay, so that was Tuesday. I took a picture in case nothing better (or more frustrating) came along. But something did.

Friday as I was coming home I noticed that my exit was backed up again! What could it be this time?



Oh, look, there's a bus blocking the left lane. Not even a full bus, either - one of those retard busses that only show up if you schedule them. ARGH! I ended up having to pass my exit, get off at the next one, and then come back on side streets. The backup was so far back I couldn't even get in line.

Clogging up my exit has become quite the epidemic here. It's a good thing I'm not armed.

I figured out what was giving me the shits so bad earlier this week. Maltitol.

See, when the candy company makes sugar-free candy, they have to put something in instead, right? Sometimes it's aspartame, sometimes it's Splenda, sometimes it's sugar alcohol, and sometimes it's maltitol.

Turns out, maltitol has a laxative effect. Which is putting it mildly since, for me, it has more of a Montezuma's Revenge bent. I ate a candy bar with maltitol in it at the hockey game last night (which was AWESOME, by the way) and about 20 minutes later I was making a break for the bathroom. I almost didn't make it home in the car, either. Terrible, terrible, terrible.

So now I have to figure out what kinds of sugar-free treats I can eat that don't have maltitol in them. I think I found some jelly beans, but I'll have to check the package again to be sure.

I woke up this morning at 2:00a and couldn't go back to sleep, so after laying in bed for two hours staring at the ceiling I decided to get up.

I sat in the living room, reading various periodicals that have been piling up for months, finally getting to the Hollywood gossip folks crave. My tiny cat helped me read by burying her face in my neck under my chin and slobbering while she kneaded (no claws = safe). She does that every once in a while and I'm not sure why, but it's damn funny.

Jenn got up at her usual 6:00a and came out to tell me it was time to get ready for work. I hopped in the shower, cranked up the heat, and stood there, unmoving, for probably 20 minutes. There's something about a hot shower when you're sick.

Eventually I got my clothes on, grabbed my bag, and headed out the door. On the way to work I stopped at the store to get some DayQuil, decongestants, and Pepto-Bismol. It was a hard drive because I was tired, but I took a 15 minute snooze in the store's parking lot and felt at least a little better.

And now I'm at work, working on the product demo project that I've been assigned to. I took some time yesterday and this morning to do a bit of an overhaul on it because I was developing quickly and not providing a very good back-end design. I've now entirely separated the business logic from the UI so maybe sometime they'll be able to reuse my UI in a more robust demo.

My throat is dry, my sinuses are clogged, I'm tired and achy. Yeah, I'm sick. It really sucks, too, because I was supposed to get my allergy shot today but you can't go in when you're sick, so maybe Friday.

I have a 3:00p - 4:00p meeting today... I think I'm going home right after that.

I never thought I'd say it, but I am so sick of cheese it's hard to even put into words. I've had more eggs, cheese, and meat this weekend than I care to describe, and I'm only five days into this stupid Atkins bullshit.

Then again, according to the scale this morning, I've already lost six pounds, so I can't say it's not working.

I sat up from 2:20a to 3:10a today on the toilet shitting my guts out. Every time I thought I was done, more showed up. I have gas and I'm afraid to fart because I may well blow my pants full. Somehow I think it's my digestive tract revolting against my new diet.

Oh, and I think I'm getting sick - my nose is all plugged up and my throat is really dry regardless of the amount of liquid I drink.

Sigh. What I wouldn't give for a piece of toast right now.

Another thing I've noticed is that I have no energy. No carbs = no fuel, baby. I wake up tired, I run through the day tired, and I get home tired. I woke up Sunday morning at 9:00a or so and by 11:30a I was ready for a nap. Seriously. I'm dead on my feet right now, too.

If Dr. Atkins wasn't already dead, I'd fucking kill him myself.

Jenn and I rented the game Starsky & Hutch for PS2 this weekend, which is cool because one person drives the car while the other person shoots out the window. Cooperative two-player game, right? Well, then we ran into the problem where you can't shoot very well using the standard controller because it's too hard to control the crosshairs. But the game supports a steering wheel and a light gun controller...

...So I went to the mall and bought Time Crisis 2 with the Guncon 2 light gun controller. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on my big TV, so I had to take it into the bedroom to play on the smaller one. Bah. They need to fix that shit.

Either way, now we can get about halfway through Starsky & Hutch before it gets too hard. The Time Crisis 2 game is the bomb, though, so if you have a PS2, you definitely need to get it.

I've posted the pictures for the Enchanted Forest trip in the MildPeril Gallery. Check them out!

I've run into my first major issue with Windows Product Activation, and as far as I'm concerned, this is fucking ridiculous.

I took the last two days to build up my new desktop workstation here at work. I installed everything, configured everything, set everything up just so. Worked great.

After all that, I was given a larger hard drive to install. Cool, right? So I ghosted my existing installation, swapped drives, and put the ghosted image onto the new drive. Done.

Boot up, log in, and... Windows can't validate my license. My volume license that shouldn't need validating.

I'm running a repair on the installation right now to see if that fixes it. If it doesn't, well... I guess I've got a project for the weekend. I can't allocate any more time to it next week, and I need this thing running by Monday.

Fucking hell.

I'm back in the office today after working from home yesterday. I'm taking the day today to build up my new desktop (biggerbetterfasterstronger) and clean up some of the stuff that's gotten left behind due to other projects.

I'm still working on that demo project (and will be for the next five weeks) and the more I work on it and see their requirements the more irritated I get. First, they've not allocated enough time to get done what we need to get done. Second, they've specified that, basically, we can't use a database server to store the data - it has to all be in static files. Third, they want it so that Joe Schmoe can just grab it, install it, and run it.

Riiiiight.

The thing I'm really irritated with is that they don't understand what truly needs to go into this thing. Just because it's a demo doesn't mean it's not a fully robust application like our actual product.

Hey - shouldn't a product demo be a demo of your actual product? One would think, right? Apparently not.

Anyway, they want this thing to be this silver bullet for all things demo - magic wizard interfaces that configure the thing, ultimate customization for the front end... last I checked, our product doesn't provide that sort of thing. What makes them think we can do it for the demo?

Ah, the executive mindset. If only I had the same opportunity to wear blinders all day long and not employ any creative problem solving skills.

I've processed all of the Enchanted Forest trip pictures and as soon as I get an account on the gallery that's set up on this server, I'll post them along with commentary.

I'm working at home today because of the delivery of my new dining room set (a bar-height bistro table and two stools) which occurred a short while ago.

I find that, while it's nice to be in a comfortable environment and get things done, there are too many things around here that I'd rather be doing, so it becomes difficult to concentrate at times. The cats demand attention, my Halloween costume needs to get done, things need to be cleaned...

Anyway, the long and the short of it is, there's merit to working in the office, since there aren't all of the other things to do. You either work... or work. Plus, working at home, I could get my schedule too screwed around. I'd be working at all different hours, some days I'd skip it, some days I'd live at the computer... who knows how consistent I'd be?

I think if I did work from home, I'd have to have, like, a home office or something, somewhere that implies "work" and not "other things to do." Then maybe.

Of course, I need a house first... which isn't happening on the current paycheck.

Re: my new table, I'm liking it quite a bit. It looks really good. It sits high (which I like), but that means it's also closer to this stupid ceiling fan we've got in the dining room (which I don't like), so, since you're closer to the lights, you're hella hotter. I've unscrwed a couple of the bulbs so it's not as hot, but now it's sorta dark. Argh! Can't win for losing.

Jenn's started us on Atkins today, so it's low-carb living for a while. I guess we'll see how that goes. I know I could stand to lose the gut.