Men are worse than evil

Tech envy

Ok, I've just seen my friend's new computer. His processor puts mine to shame, along with his monitor! Actually, I don't really care too much about his computer, my drooling is pretty much over his monitor. The dude got a 24" widescreen Ultrasharp lcd. It literally looks almost as if it would be twice the size of my paltry 17" lcd.

Sigh. I refuse to buy anymore computers from Dell, but I guess I wouldn't mind getting one of their lcds. I don't know if I necessarily need something that big, but I wouldn't mind getting a 22" at least. I see those going on sale sometimes, so that would be better justified.

The only way I would upgrade to a new computer so soon is if I see that the new video card replacement I get won't work in my current system.

Blundering worker bee

Today's quote: Hardly, my Lord. It's just an eye. The gods saw fit to grace me with a spare.

Well, I'm off to a blazing start at my new workplace. In my two weeks here I've managed to 1) forget the password to my computer (after just changing it thinking I needed something less predictable) and 2) set off the building alarm.

In my defense, I had emailed for a personal alarm code 2 days earlier, but the person didn't get back to me until I'd already left work the afternoon before I set it off. So that was more a case of bad luck and timing, since the guy who normally shuts off the alarm by 6:45 is on jury duty.

But nothing really excuses my noobness is the computer password matter. I'm not one of those people who uses the same password for everything. I pretty much have a different password for most things. So, I guess the noggin was a little full when I decided to add another one to the list. The third day I got here I drew a blank as to what it was, so I had to ask my boss for my password to be reset. Of course, I felt like an idiot.

I wonder what they'll think of me when I have one of my hiccuping fits.

Girls + video games

Today's quote: The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules.

I've been at the new job for two weeks now. It's really great to be a part of the gainfully employed working force. Hell, it's just nice to have somewhere to go everyday. It was starting to get embarrassing telling people what I did all day when they asked. "Um, I wake up whenever I want, and then start playing WoW. It's how I got my rank 13 title."

I always get mixed reactions when people hear that from me. Some people, like my sister, think that I've been hit with the "loser" bat and don't want to have anything to do with me. Others, mostly guys, think that it's pretty cool. I was at the UPS store a couple of days ago to return a defective video card that I'd purchased for the BC expansion. The box wasn't packaged yet, so the guy saw what I was returning.

UPS Guy: Is that your video card?
Me: Yep.
UPS Guy: Is it for any game in particular?
Me: Yeah, I play WoW. (trying to not blush embarrassedly)
UPS Guy: Wow. You have officially beaten the stereotype.

I do remember one instance of talking to a gaming store employee. We got into a rather heated debate over the virtues of WoW vs. Guild Wars. I've tried both, and I found Guild Wars lacking. Granted, I'll admit that I didn't try it beyond a couple of weeks, but overall it was not as multi-faceted as WoW is.

Anyway, the guy was a total advocate for Guild Wars. We were arguing for about 20 minutes, with my friend as an amused witness. So far, I see that WoW has surpassed 8M subscribers, whereas Guild Wars has posted over 2M games sold. I'm just going to point out the fact that the number of people playing Guild Wars is not likely to be the same as the games sold, since it's not based on a subscription service like WoW is. I know of plenty of people like myself who bought Guild Wars, only to discard it a little later in disgust. Too bad I can't go back to that gaming store and visit the guy.

American Idol, a popularity contest?!

I've been back to watching American Idol again. I'd missed the last season due to some upheavals in my life, but since everything has settled down I get to start this year's season with no qualms.

So far, I've been pretty disappointed with who has been kicked off the show. Antonella has lasted far longer than she should have, and everyone pretty much agrees that she probably got this far mostly on her looks. (She has been offered a contract from the creator of Girls Gone Wild to host the show.) Personally, I really hated to see her get one of the coveted spots over another girl who had been praised on her final audition as "the best we've seen today." Those final auditions are the ones right before they make the last round of cuts before voters start getting a say in who gets to stay.

Now, we are confronted with yet another anomaly who still exists in the remaining contestants. Not just that, but he has made the top ten, which means he will be part of the official American Idol tour. You've guessed it, I'm talking about Sanjaya Malakar.

I'll admit, the kid seems really cute and nice. He does have a nice voice, but he just isn't in the same league as a performer compared to most of the other contestants. Unlike the rest of Washington, I don't feel obligated to root for him just because he's from Federal Way. I have no problems backing Blake, since he's a fairly polished performer. Since he's from Washington as well, I'll be putting my money on him instead of Sanjaya.

Yesterday I was listening to the radio going over the results show, where the hosts were discussing the fact that Stephanie was kicked off. She has proven herself to be a fairly solid performer, definitely possessing a good all-around quality. The radio host said, "This proves it, American Idol is based not on talent, but on popularity."

Well, no freaking duh! The very first season of American Idol has already proved that -- Justin Guarini made it all the way to #2 probably on the merits of his bouncy curls and winsome smile. The guy was nowhere in the same league as Kelly and some of the other singers, but he made it all the way to the runner-up position.

I'm not really sure what it is about Sanjaya that has gotten him this far. Perhaps, it is as someone on the radio said: he's like a cute puppy that you keep encouraging with "you can do it!" Maybe he is also getting some support from Indians, since he's pretty much the only non-white/black to be on the show ever. We don't count Paul Kim, who was the first to get voted off this season. My brother thinks it was due to his bad idea of performing without shoes. Who knows.

I think A has it right, that they should change the voting system from voting for your favorite, to voting for who should get kicked off. This way, the contestants who figure as second or third choices for a lot of voters won't get the boot simply because they didn't get enough voting preference. Of course, they probably wouldn't want to condone that sort of attitude, since that would have a fairly negative association. It's more acceptable for a show like Survivor, where the whole premise is that the people are pitted against each other in a literally cutthroat competition.

What website would you like to see?

Today's quote: Valentine's Day is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

I'm trying to come up with an idea for a website with some other people, but we're a bit stumped as to what the subject matter should be. So far, some of our tentative suggestions have involved WoW, and celebrity gossip.

Of course, the problem with both of those is that there is already a slew of websites out there devoted to either of those topics, and probably provide more in-depth coverage than we'd be able to offer.

We need to find a niche. Any suggestions?

Britney, Britney

Today's quote: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

It's sad to see the smoking ruins of Britney's career. I remember when she was on top of the world, being one of the first to spawn the teen pop queen scene.

Where did it all go? Today, she is saddled with a number of atrocities: a hideously unattractive bald head, two kids, possible bankruptcy, an imminent divorce, and a recent stay in a rehab facility. Actually, what am I saying? The divorce is probably the best thing that has happened to her since breaking up with Justin.

I was listening to the radio, and the show's question of the day was "If you could pick one celebrity to have neutered or spayed, who would it be?" Most of the flood of callers picked our lil miss here. What I find funny is that people don't consider the fact that Kfed himself has any number of children out there by different women. If anyone should be neutered, it should be Kfed, since he obviously doesn't know the meaning of birth control.

Something about this whole chronicle of events reminds me somewhat of Whitney Houston's downfall via her ex-husband. One can only imagine how either of these women would have fared without the evil influence of their men.

The lengths I've gone to...

Today's quote: From the moment we enter this life we are in the flow of it. We measure it and we mock it, but we cannot defy it. We cannot even speed it up or slow it down. Or can we? Have we not each experienced the sensation that a beautiful moment seemed to pass to quickly, and wished that we could make it linger? Or felt time slow on a dull day, and wished that we could speed things up a bit?

You have all noticed the recent spate of garbage posts on here. Sad to say, I succumbed to the advertising devil in hopes of earning a little money to pay off a bill or two a month. I have not held a true job in over a year now, barring instances of working for a couple of weeks here and there on temp assignments. I thought the most inconvenience it would pose would be trying to find enough to fulfill the word requirement. The initial description assured people that they wouldn't find themselves writing something bad, like text advertising porn or something.

It may have not been that bad, but I started to experience doubts when I received an assignment on diet pills. Ok, most people know that you should be extremely careful with them, and that you have to be really strict in order to have a chance at maintaining any results that did come about. I tried not to be overly positive about it. But then I received an assignment for another diet pill that was a clear rip-off from Red Bull (Red Bullet). I decided then that I did not want to be a part of anything endorsing this sort of possible health hazard. I'm probably paranoid, but its nature is too dubious for me to continue.

Well, I finally got a job! Ironically, despite my decision to leave law school, I find myself writing for a company that publishes textbooks on real estate law. I get to help write the text and do all the other fun stuff. So far, the initial work I've been exposed to has reminded me of Property with Kurtz. Who knew I'd have to see "fee simple absolute" again?

Why Me?!!!

Last Friday I decided that I would reformat my hard drive. My friend told me that it would be good to start with a clean slate again, since I was seeing lag during certain instances where I shouldn't have been.

Today, I have reinstalled Windows XP for the fourth time now. I'm ready to bang my head against a wall, from the offchance that it might be less painful. I've had to re-patch Windows four times, update a virus scanner, install WoW with all the awful patches, etc. Each time the process took anywhere from 4-6 hours.

The first time I installed Windows, everything seemed fine. That is, everything was fine until I restarted Windows, and it asked which XP Home Edition I wanted to use. For some reason, it had two on the list. The second one was a ghost that didn't really exist. My friend's suggestion was that I reinstall Windows.

After the second time I installed Windows, everything seemed fine. However, I noticed that WoW was missing some sound effects, but I figured it didn't really matter. Then WoW started freezing up on me for five minutes at a time, and then the computer would finally restart on its own. It got so bad that I couldn't even log in...the game would freeze immediately and then the whole computer would be frozen. My friend's suggestion was that it could be a bad video driver. This led to reformatting my hard drive for the third time.

After the third time, I paid especial attention to my drivers. I made sure that they were all up-to-date and that they were the correct ones for each manufacturer. There were no more problems with WoW, and everything was golden for 3 days. Then came today.

I received an email from Monster.com saying that I needed to download a "job seeker tool" in order to continue receiving their job search results. Since I am still unemployed, this was actually important to me. So I clicked on the little link that seemed so innocuous. It downloaded something to my desktop, which I double-clicked. Nothing happened, so I became suspicious right off the bat and scanned the file for viruses. It registered as clean, so I brushed it off as a badly functioning tool from Monster. Little did I know there was already something sweeping through my computer. A few hours later I turned my computer on to check my bank account balance online. It went to the desktop, but then it restarted. And then it restarted again. And again. You get the picture. It was locked in a loop of restarting. The bad thing? I hit F8 which is the typical command to make Windows enter Safe Mode. However, for some reason I did not see a Safe Mode at all. I was stuck.

I called another friend in a panic, and he suggested that I reformat my hard drive again. This was what I had been so afraid of hearing. I felt the most incredible combination of anger, frustration, despair, and incredulity. It was hard to say which emotion was winning.

All of this is funny, since what prompted me to reformat my hard drive in the first place was the fact that Burning Crusade released January 16, and I wanted to fix any problems I had with WoW before I subjected myself to another involved installation in addition to the 1gb+ patches and the original four-disc installation.

Do I possess the Burning Crusade? Nope. After three attempts to secure myself a copy of the Collector's Edition beginning at 10:20pm on January 15, I was forced to call J in California and beg him to get me a copy. Fortunately, his office is located five minutes away from a Fry's, and he had no problems snagging one for me.

This bloody expansion had better be worth its weight in gold!!

Time is Ticking...

Today's quote: Is your vagina listed in the New York City guide books? Because it should be - hottest spot in town. Always open!

So my parents are wondering what the hell I am doing with my life. Honestly, I don't know. I've been playing WoW a lot lately, but how do I tell my old-fashioned Asian parents that? Um, hi Mom and Dad. The reason I haven't called you as much lately is because I've been immersed in this addictive MMORPG and I have no time to do anything else because I've been obsessed with ranking up.

Now they've decided that I'm behind on the career path and also my life path. My brother decided to have a talk with me to let me know that they want me to get my ass in gear. I guess since I'm pushing 26 they think the clock is ticking. Great!

Bye-Bye, Boring Laundry

I've recently written an article on new hi-tech machines out there that help make the laundry easier. I know, I know, it's not like the laundry is all that hard. What trips me up about it is the fact that it's a two-stage process. Since most washers I've seen don't come with buzzers, I often forget to come back and put the load in the dryer. The machines I discussed in the article either combined the process into one step, or have notifications sent out to your cell phone or TV to let you know to come back. A lot of people have commented that the notification system is lame, but I have seen everyone I know forget a load in the wash at least once.

http://www.americaninventorspot.com/bye_bye_boring_laundry

The article is up on digg.com and shoutwire.com, so feel free to give it props...

Here are some of the comments I've gotten on my article:

"Really, text massages to your cell? That seams real dumb, and its not like doing laundry is hard. And i kinda like doing laundry, you can watch and its real relaxing. "

"What I want to know is why do most dryers buzz but not washers? That seems totally backwards to me.

Ideally, I want to be notified when the washer is done - not just to save time, but also to remind me my job isn't over yet. So many times I've left wash sit there for days because I forgot to flip it. I'd also like to disable my dryer buzzer as there's no need for the bastard to go off in the middle of the night after I've set it and went to bed.

Also, laundry sucks because of the *folding* - not the washing/drying phases, or even the sorting."


"Author of this story:
"I've often wished for a laundry machine that either let me know when a load is done"...
* * * * * BUUZZZZZZ * * * * *
..."Holy Sh@t! WTF was that??!" [Smartass...to hear the buzzer requires that you actually be in the vicinity. For those of us who don't own homes and don't like to stay glued to the laundromat, it may not be so easy to hear the buzzer if we're elsewhere.]


Here was the most illuminating comment about why Americans don't really have the already washer/dryer in one combo:

"TMCDIGG wrote:

"But seriously, why do we need "TWO BIG BOXES" to wash and dry clothes? You'd think by now someone would make a product that could do BOTH functions in ONE machine, no?...why can't there be just ONE BOX to wash, and dry.. then you just take it out when done.. do we really need to crowd floor space with two machines? Sure, its inefficient for wet cold clothes to then be heated and dried in the same machine but where there is a WILL (AND MARKET DEMAND) there is a way."

I work for an appliance manufacturer, and many years ago we did offer washer/dryer combos for reasons of space-saving (and still do, in Europe). Trust me when I tell you, they are remarkably inefficient, because of the need to drain out all of the water from the washer before drying and the extra energy required to dry wet, cold clothes. People say they want these washer/dryer combos until they hear it will take them upwards of four hours to wash and dry _one load_ of clothes.

If there's one piece of feedback we consistently get from consumers about laundry, it's that they want to reduce the amount of time needed to wash/dryer clothes, not increase it. That's why washer/dryer pairs continue to dominate the market in the US. We've got the space to accomodate them, and we don't want to spend the entire weekend washing clothes. In places where space is an issue (urban areas of Europe or Japan) they have the washer/dryer combos because they have no choice--they can't spare the space, so they have to put up with long wash/dry times.

There won't be a market demand for washer/dryer combos in the US unless (a) we suddenly become hyper-crowded, or (b) the laws of physics undergo some pretty significant changes and it's possible to wash/dry a load in the same amount of time that a washer/dryer pair will."

Happiness..too much to ask for?

Today's quote: Janice, I apologize to you if I don't seem real eager to jump into a forced awkward intimate situation that people like to call dating. I don't like the feeling. You're sitting there, you're wondering do I have food on my face, am I eating, am I talking too much, are they talking enough, am I interested I'm not really interested, should I play like I'm interested but I'm not that interested but I think she might be interested but do I want to be interested but now she's not interested?

So I haven't really been working for a couple of months now. Let's review the past year. I've quit law school, moved to Seattle, looked for jobs, been offered 4 jobs, turned down 4 jobs, and have turned to writing. I've read of how so many other people have gotten book deals from their blogs. I wonder how I could get the same deal. I'm the person who not only dropped out of law school, but also chronicled along the way to that decision. What I'm wondering is, would anyone even be interested? You hear stories of these burnouts all the time. People drop out of college, law school, and med school plenty. Is there anything special about me?

Dehumanizing Science

Today's quote: The point is that he is an insecure fuck, like all beautiful-but-handed-everything-on-a-silver-platter people. He doesn't trust anyone in this world but you. You've been born into royalty baby. You know it. Now you just gotta be thankful, and wear the crown.

I've come across an interesting question. Today, when you ask most people to name one living scientist, they usually draw a blank. Or, if they name one it's usually Stephen Hawking. One guy theorizes that the only reason people know Hawking's name is because he's in a wheelchair. That could very well be true. What else would explain why there are more brilliant scientists toiling away in obscurity?

In general, we just don't know very much about the people working behind the scenes anymore. Why is this?


On a different note, I've just written a new article that is published here http://www.americaninventorspot.com/gadget_dos_and_gadget_donts

If you want to help me out, you can visit www.shoutwire.com and register as a user. Then, do a search for my article and give it a Shout, if you want to.

Living Virtually

Today's quote: That you can lose yourself. Everything. All boundaries. All time. That two bodies can become so mixed up, that you don't know who's who or what's what. And just when the sweet confusion is so intense you think you're gonna die... you kind of do. Leaving you alone in your separate body, but the one you love is still there. That's a miracle. You can go to heaven and come back alive. You can go back anytime you want with the one you love.

I have had a most awful love-hate relationship with a few games. Mostly, it's been World of Warcraft, but in small part it has also been with the Sims. It's a love-hate kind of thing because the concept in both games is to improve your character so that it becomes more powerful-- hopefully something near the top of the food chain. I guess I can't stand the irony of it...here you are playing a game designed upon the idea of improving yourself and gaining skills, and yet in real life you sit there pouring your energy into something virtual while the rest of the world passes you by.

What is it about these types of games? At times I hate World of Warcraft with every part of my soul. I despise how much time it takes from improving the real me, not the character I play on a screen. I hate how people I know try to plan things around holidays going on in the game, or other special events. I keep telling myself that a person plays a game for fun, and that's really the only objective. However, I guess I find myself wishing that WoW was not quite so immersive...that it didn't draw you in with its siren song. I have fun playing Warcraft also, and sometimes I'm relieved that it's a game that only plays in rounds, it's not something based on a cumulative improvement/leveling goal. You only play the game at that time, and when that round is over, the next time you play you start over from scratch, as does everyone else in the game. It's what I have tried to play to escape playing WoW so much. But then, I resent the fact that I'm playing another computer game to keep myself from playing WoW. It's like falling back on a lesser narcotic in the attempt of trying to wean myself off an addiction to heroin.

By contrast, WoW is one of the most multi-faceted role-playing games out there because the game offers you any number of things that you can do in game. One of the primary goals is to level your character so that it becomes more powerful, but there are other things you can choose to do also. You have professions you can choose to gain skill in; hell, you can even choose to become an expert fisher by spending all your time fishing in the rivers and lakes in that world. At times, I feel overwhelmed with all the things that I perceive my character should become able at. This is when the irony starts to strike me as cruel, because I then begin to muse over how much effort or time I spend trying to gain skills for something, that in the end, doesn't really matter. What does matter?

All for Naught

Today's quote: I hope it feels so good to be right. There's nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?

So...I was led on quite the merry little goose chase today. I left 45 minutes before my interview with a marketing company today. The drive normally takes about 20 minutes from where I live. Guess how long it took me? 1 HOUR. The next stupid thing was that their door with the suite number was conveniently blocked, so I couldn't see the suite number. Actually, all the suites around it were in similar fashion, so I was driving around the building trying to ascertain if I was even on the right side of the building. I finally decided to park somewhere and walk around to get a closer look.

I finally made it to the proper place, only to be amazed at how small it was. The place was about 2 rooms. While I was waiting there, I saw another woman come in and start filling out the same typical employee information sheet I had just filled out. To my amusement, she seemed rather distraught over the questions it was asking. She pulled out several pieces of folded up paper, only to stare at the form in a perplexed fashion and scratch her head. This made me wonder about her chances of getting hired.

Finally, I was led back to the "conference room" to speak with the manager. My interview with him lasted 5 minutes. You know why? Because people like them take bullshitting to unprecedented heights. The positions they had open were for sales people to canvas neighborhoods hawking merchandise. In other words, I would have been one of the people my father was forever chasing off the premises with threats. The ad for the position labeled it as "advertising and marketing representative." Duties included "preparing and providing marketing materials for the internal sales team and prospective clients; developing excellent written and verbal skills." Wow, what a way to say that you're basically going to be hoofing it door-t0-door being a huge pain in the ass by trying to sell something. And where would the "excellent written skills" be coming from? Surely they don't mean having the customer fill out purchase orders??

As soon as I got it out of him what the job was really about, the interview was over. Driving 20+ miles at over an hour away, and this is what I got. I had tried asking the woman on the phone yesterday what kind of duties would be involved, and she'd refused to give me a straight answer. All of this for a 5 minute interview. I guess you win some, you lose some.

Ahoy!

Today's quote: Sea turtles, mate. A pair of them strapped to my feet.

I saw Pirates today. I was totally taken aback by how long the line was to get in for the movie, even though I'd arrived an hour early for the showing. By a sheer stroke of luck I was able to obtain seating in the stadium seat section, even though I was almost at the back of the line. While waiting in line, I saw various people dressed up as pirates walking around. When did these two movies develop this type of following? It only had one prior film made, and it was nothing like the Harry Potter series.

***Spoiler Alert***

The movie was more entertaining than I thought it would be, given what I'd heard from the radio interviews from the morning. Of course, the one scene with the rolling giant wheel and the three dueling men was rather ridiculous. I also had issue with the witch who had the most atrocious Jamaican accent ever and black lipstick smeared haphazardly on her. Lastly, Elizabeth coldly chaining Sparrow to the doomed ship to die made me like her just a little less. You sort of think of her as an honorable sort of person, but I guess she's not above having a bit of original sin herself.

There are some moments that are just too ridiculous for words, other moments full of tension and drama. I suppose it was a decent mix, and at least it didn't keep me from being too bored or feeling like it had a stagnant plot. All in all, it was ok. Did I think it deserved its record-breaking box office sales? Not really.

It's a Bird...

Today's quote: You wrote that the world doesn't need a saviour, but every day I hear people crying for one.

Like countless other fans, I went to see Superman. Despite the two leading men being extremely easy on the eyes, and an ok plot with very decent acting, I was actually disappointed. Why? I'm all for the modern-day superhero being all sensitive and everything, but it's a little different if you're chipping away at the actual identity or perception people have of the superhero. Of course, this is just my opinion. Perhaps I'm disappointed from having seen Superman as a little girl and forming an image of his invincibility, and then being confronted with something a little different here. It's always been Superman, Man of Steel with the love of his life, Lois Lane.

***Superman Spoiler Alert***



But this movie portrays him differently. He's still as hot as ever, but what's this? Lois Lane has shacked up with someone else?! And she has a kid?!!!! Granted, you find out that it's Superman's kid. You sort of always think of Lois Lane as a feisty Ms. Uber-Reporter. You don't really think of her as having settled for someone else because Superman is gone, and then going on to write a Pulitzer Prize-winning article titled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." She appears to have very deep issues as to feeling abandoned by Superman. At least the movie didn't muck it up with adultery. The characters are all very noble and have their shining sterling-silver integrity intact. My main point? The movie was good, yes. However, it left me feeling frustrated because things didn't seem the way they should be. For one, where was the chemistry between Superman and Lois? Where was the depth? The characters seemed somewhat flat and two-dimensional. Yes, I know it's partly about character reinvention so that we, the audience, can see a new side of them and love them more for it. I'm just not sure that I'm lovin' it, and I'm not so sure that it's working.

Don't Look Back

Today's quote: I don't think you understand. Me - gonads! You- ovaries!

Do you ever wonder why companies have made the packaging on some things so difficult to open? For example, I bought a crappy optical usb mouse today at Target. Actual time spent buying mouse: 3 minutes. Time spent opening package of said mouse: 20 minutes. In the process, I have given myself two cuts from the plastic, and ruined one pair of scissors. I could not believe my eyes when the plastic repelled the scissors and then broke them. I finally had to get out the trusty Leatherman that I received from an ex-boyfriend as a birthday present (yes, it's useful, but what woman wants a bloody Leatherman for a birthday present?!) and stab at the package until I got a manageable hole to finally get the mouse out. The last time I had this much trouble was with the Sandisk Micro-Cruzer. I wonder if anyone has ever sued a company for injuries sustained while navigating the perilous process of trying to open crazy packaging?

By the way, I've quit my newest job. I couldn't see myself staying there for more than a year, so I felt that perhaps things were better if I just quit now and saved myself the misery of a year of work that I didn't like or have any interest in, and also saved the company the time and energy of training me in the work. Plus, it needs some moderate amount of people skills since construction seems to be one of those things that's very buddy buddy-ish.

So far, I seem to have experienced opposite ends of the spectrum. At the last job, I always had something to do and the day went by fast. The duties would have been enough to engage someone and keep them occupied. The atmosphere is very comfortable, and employees are allowed to wear pretty much whatever they want. All in all, it was a very comfortable place to work. The drawback was that it barely paid better than minimum wage. So much for their policy of trying to "attract the best and the brightest at above-market-average wages." The new job paid more than $15,000 a year than the other job, but at the same time the work did not engage me in the least. I hated the work. The only thing I could foresee happening was that the work would get easier, but that I would not like it any better as time went on. It's funny, last week I thought that I could do any job as long as it paid decently, but this week I found out that I actually think otherwise. I almost feel like I've been betrayed by myself. So what am I doing now? I'm considering my options of how I might actually get to write to pay some bills, since it's pretty much the only thing right now that makes me happy. I need some ideas.

Time to go back to eating ramen.

Suddenly Me

Today's quote: We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop?

Alright. After enduring the little trial period in the a/p department, I was extended an offer of permanent employment as an account analyst. But guess how much it was for! A stinking, miserly, bloody $12/hr. I tried negotiating for something more reasonable, but the hiring manager wasn't having any of it. She refused to budge. I even tried to appeal to common sense: how can anyone living in Seattle be expected to survive on less than $25,000 a year before taxes?! Nope, zip, zilch, nada.

In utter despair, after having felt like I'd wasted almost a month of my life to no avail, I decided to call one of the people who'd asked if I was still interested in a job as an office engineer. They scheduled me for an interview for Friday morning, and voila! They offered me the job. The whole thing happened so quickly that it took my breath away.

The only thing is...I know nothing about construction. I don't care about gravel and silt and pipes and rocks. I am amazed that I am here trying to figure out state codes approving or defining what exactly is meant by a "large rock." Do I really need to know what the specifications are for "large woody debris"?

In the last job, I had friendly people I could talk to, a comfortable atmosphere, and free tea and water and hot cocoa. The breakroom has a pinball machine, ping pong table, foozball, and an air hockey table downstairs. The things it lacked: decent hourly pay, and no excuses for being late. In general, the time policy is rather anal-retentive there.

In my job now, I'm salaried at a very decent rate. They don't count every minute (although conversely I don't get paid overtime if I work late), I get free water, tea and pop. I'm higher on the totem pole than I've ever been before. Despite all this, I'm still not happy. What's wrong with me?

Is it better to be a big fish in a small ill-fitting pond, or a small fish in a huge non-caring lake?

Perfect Spoof

Today's quote: That's a tough one. I would have to say April 25th [is my perfect date]. Because it's not too hot, not too cold, all you need is a light jacket.

On my way driving to work every morning, I listen to a particular radio station for the celebrity sleaze gossip and other tabloidish news. Well, this morning I heard one of the best stories I've come across in a long time.

The Mrs. World beauty pageant suffered a terrible fiasco. Why? Because they crowned the wrong winner! Mrs. Russia was announced as the winner, but person placed the crown on Mrs. Costa Rica's head instead. Not only that, but Mrs. Costa Rica was also given the sash, and took the walk of fame complete with that little wave they do. All the losing contestants also did the thing where they swarm the stage and hug the winner. Of course, this time they actually did it to the wrong person. Meanwhile, Mrs. Russia was sitting there off to the side just watching everything going on. It took them quite a while to catch on to the fact that they had made such a mistake of monumental proportions. It's funny because you can see a man screaming backstage at the woman who gave the crown to Mrs. Costa Rica. The first thing they did was take the crown and sash back from Mrs. Costa Rica and then did a retake of the winner's scene. Then everyone went backstage and started screaming at each other.

I feel sorry for both contestants, but this is too funny! I can totally see a Simpson's spoof made from this. The fake winner is crying joyfully and waving, when the music abruptly stops and they say "oops" and run up to the girl to snatch the crown and sash and dump them on the real winner. I honestly don't know who to feel sorrier for. Mrs. Costa Rica, who got to wear the stuff before they were taken so coldly back, or Mrs. Russia, whose glorious moment is forever ruined and becomes the tawdry stuff of laughable tabloid news. However, I wonder why Mrs. Costa Rica fell for it. Was she not listening to the winner being announced? You would think that if you were one of the finalists waiting with bated breath to maybe hear your name being announced that you would very surely realize that you WEREN'T the winner. Of course, I guess there is something to be said for the whole sequence of events confusing any sane and rational person. Afterwards, Mrs. Costa Rica said she'd gotten caught up in the whole moment. Oh, how I'm having flashbacks to when Zoolander gives the acceptance speech when he didn't win.