Isn't it great when someone else's f*ck up gets you fired, too?

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Tags: via ljapp

After two (work) days of wallowing in self-pity-I'm-unemployed land, it looks like I've caught a break.

My boss called me and said they just received 80 lawns from the main contractor for us to look after!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!

Hopefully this keeps up. We're at capacity around 100+ lawns, so that's a good start. Hopefully that means money coming in before my car explodes (front suspension is making scary noises)

Current Mood: optimistic

The blog io9 has posted what is possibly the most hilarious and entertaining (and very scathing) tongue-in-cheek review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Critical consensus on Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is overwhelmingly negative. But the critics are wrong. Michael Bay used a squillion dollars and a hundred supercomputers' worth of CG for a brilliant art movie about the illusory nature of plot.

If you're in need of a good laugh and enjoy sarcastic/cynical humor, take a few minutes and read it. Seriously, I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Tags: humor, movie
Current Mood: amused

Wow... long time no update.

Instead of boring life crap, enjoy this video montage of the Japanese astronaut aboard the International Space Station doing all kinds of crazy things in micro gravity as suggested by students... The high-five was my favorite part.:)



And now I'm *gasp* off to the bar with friends *double gasp*.

Tags: humor
Current Mood: amused

Just got back from a very fun time camping with my best friend, his fiance, sakaane, and some other friends.

Very glad we had the opportunity to go this weekend, instead of the previous holiday weekend (for us Canadians). The weather was gorgeous, there were very few other people around, and we pretty much all had the opportunity to unwind and have a good time. It was also a much needed opportunity to commune with nature a bit and cast off some of the gloom I've been feeling lately.

Possibly the funniest part of the whole weekend was a very brief rain shower that happened Sunday night. We had lashed together a frame out of some dead-fall trees to string up our tarps for shade and shelter. Just as we were trying to relocate this frame, part of it broke apart. Then someone commented "It's going to rain" and just like a tap, it started pouring for several minutes... Just long enough for us to scramble and get everything covered. Then it was like mother nature turned the tap back off, and it stopped again. We all had a good laugh later.

Anyhow, I'm mildly sunburned, hungry, and very tired. Time for a shower some rest.

Tags: camping
Current Mood: cheerful

What does it mean to be human?

I should probably preface this with an admonition of my near total lack of exposure to any contemporary or classical writings on the matter, so if I'm touching on ground that's already been covered by someone more educated than I, you'll know why.

I've been watching a great deal of sci-fi and anime (Ergo Proxy, Ghost in the Shell, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Stargate: Atlantis, Torchwood, and Farscape) recently--overdosing, in fact, one could argue--culminated by this trailer for a novel. In the video the character states:

They told me I'm not human. I'm more human than they are. I'm more human than...human.

This got me to thinking about the question at the beginning of my post. What does it mean to be "human"?

This led to the further realization that, without context or contrast for comparison, can we even begin to define such a topic.

( cut for length )

Tags: philosophy
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Half Life 2 Soundtrack

Couldn't think of a decent title.

Just wanted to quickly touch on the good things that have happened over the last few days.

Friday I had the opportunity to catch up with an old friend who I hadn't seen in a couple years. It was amusing (and somewhat comforting?) how little he's changed. It's nice to know there are a few constants in the universe.

Saturday sakaane and I went to see Star Trek. Very good movie! I have a few nits to pick about it, and I wasn't as blown away as some other people's reactions, but I felt the casting was spot-on, and it had all those deliciously nostalgic lines any 'Trek fan was dieing to hear.

Sunday my sister and I had our Mom and her husband over for dinner to celebrate Mother's day. This was good for catching up, as we hadn't gotten together in a few months, and also it motivated my sister and I to get our living room and kitchen into shape.

That's about it for now. Still trying to sort out the whole job thing, and everything else that hinges on it. Hopefully more updates soon.

Tags: update
Current Mood: complacent
Current Music: The chorus of frogs outside my window

Let's hope May is better... April was not good to me.

So... remember that frustrated post where I was talking about my new job spontaneously imploding three days before I was supposed to start?

Well, the long and short of it is: our backup plan for launching a business isn't going to pan out. At least not in time to keep me employed. My friend and I sat down today and discussed things. It'd be a miracle if the business launched before fall... and his money reserves from the previous business will be depleted long before then.

So that means I need to find another job. More frustratingly, it means I also cheated myself out of the two and a half weeks of vacation I had saved up at my old job... for absolutely no gain (at this point). If I'd had any indication things were going to turn out this way, I would have taken my vacation before leaving my old job.

*sigh*

Taking stock of the past month(ish):

THE BAD: • Rear wheel sheared off my car • Car repair bill • New job vanished • Computer tried to die • Got sick • Had to find a new apartment • Computer tried to die again • U-Haul messed up my truck booking • Moving for the 17th time in 10 years • Stress of trying to start a new business • Had to pay new damage deposit before getting old one back • General anxiety about my uncertain future • Attending Comic Con & my mask are up in the air (pending job) • Finding out the new business won't launch in time and I need to find another job

THE GOOD: • Car fixed (but expensive) • Computer repaired under warranty • Got away to the mountains for a weekend with sakaane • Found a new, bigger place to live (for less rent!) • Finished moving today • Got damage deposit back

Overall...Not impressed. I have a few things going in my favor, but if bigger things don't fall into place fast, that isn't going to last. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than a little...stressed? pissed off? I guess "frustrated" sums it up best. I just hope this means the worst is over and things will start going my way in the coming month.

...And next April, you can find me hiding under a rock! *wry laugh*

Tags: arrrgh, change, stupidity
Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: Nightwish - Amaranth

Moving sucked... But this is neat!


Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

These are real, full-sized people and objects filmed using a technique called tilt-shift.

Tags: cool!
Current Mood: amused

U-haul screwed up my reservation for today.

They got it fixed...after I had to freak out on several people. Normally I'm calm when dealing with stuff like that, but the amount of times I got jerked around today, being told to call a local number, that isn't open on weekends or past 5pm, which told me to call the 1-800 number I'd just called who told me to call the local number... then finally getting through to the local office that was open and being told something different than what I was told back on Monday, only to get to the location and find that, instead of the 5pm - 7am (next day) rental, it was noon until 4pm the same day!

...Yeah, I kinda lost it on them. Why even have an online booking system if they always screw it up or change it? Seriously!

Tags: arrrgh, stupidity
Current Music: Stabilo - Rain Awhile

I'm on a bit of a tangent with my post from this morning, and I felt like running with it.

You are presented with a choice: By sacrificing your life, you could set in motion a chain of events that would result in peace on earth, and bring about a Utopian age for humanity (fixing the environmental damage, end of poverty and crime, etc). The catch is that you only have a few moments to decide. You aren't able to tell anyone, and no one would ever know why you died. It would just appear to be a random death unnoticed by history.

Would you do it? And what are your reasons for doing it/not doing it?

Feel free to borrow this and repost it in your journal if you like (or if you want to see my answer). I'm not expecting to see any specific answers, this is just for my own curiosity.

Tags: musing
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: P!nk - So What | Powered by Last.fm

( cut for length )

Anyhow, I have to get back to my meaningless consumerist existence now. Extreme praise for anyone with the patience to read that entire spiel of mine.

Tags: musing, philosophy
Current Mood: cynical
Current Music: Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile | Powered by Last.fm

Semi-packing at the moment. My sis (tatonya) and I move into our new place Sunday evening.

I'm excited about the new place, but sooooo bloody sick of moving. I just counted it out and I've moved 17 times in the past 10 years. And that's not counting times I've helped family members or friends move, which adds another move every second year or so in that period.

So, you can probably see why I'm a little weary of moving. At least this time wasn't a choice on my part. The family who owns the house we're in right now lost their job stateside and had to move back.

Still... the boxes threaten to rob me of my sanity.

Tags: changes
Current Mood: teh boxes... so many boxes...
Current Music: Champion - No Heaven | Powered by Last.fm

*Updated*
Extended warranties on laptops are good thing.

I learned this after my Toshiba laptop croaked a month out of its manufacturer's warranty. It would have cost about $800 to get it fixed. The extended warranty would have cost me about $350 for 3 years coverage (on a $2,800 laptop).

Lesson learned, I bought the uber-warranty (next business day on-site repair + one-time accident coverage) when I picked up my current laptop. It cost me about $450 (on a $4,000 laptop), but I've gotten my money's worth out of it:

Within the first year, I accidentally knocked my computer over while plugged in, snapping the connector off my power brick, and damaging the motherboard. It was fixed two days later, no extra charge.

Then my replacement power adapter crapped out last year. Replaced, no extra charge.

The other day, my computer shut down suddenly. When I turned it back on, I received this message:

It turns out one of my cooling fans quit working. Half an hour on the phone yesterday, and the Dell repair guy will be here today to fix it. has been here and my computer is now running smoothly again! YESSS!!! No extra charge.

Say what you want about Dell (and just for the record, yes, I have ended up talking to call center reps in India a couple times now), but their warranty coverage is awesome--totally worth the extra investment.

Tags: computers, dell
Current Mood: working

*deep breath* Ok. Been putting off posting this after my previous emo-rage posts about my car, but it's past time I addressed this.

In my previous entry I mentioned an "even bigger upset". Well, that was finding out, with two days left to go at my old job, my new job I was supposed to start on Apr 1st no longer existed... Without warning and due to a bunch of under the table politics, the parent company my friend sub-contracts from was laid off.

To say this had me a little panicked and stressed would be the understatement of the century. Fortunately the news is not all horrible. My friend still has the money to pay me the agreed wage for the next while. So we're going to try and launch another business that I'll post about soon. The idea has a lot of potential if we can pull it off... It's just going to be a huge pain in the ass to get it going.

( Read more... )

Anyway I'll be posting about other stuff shortly, but right now I have to get back to chasing suppliers (who suck at returning phone calls) and filling out forms.

Tags: arrrgh, stupidity, work, wtf
Current Location: At my desk
Current Mood: going insane
Current Music: System of a Down - Toxicity

I'm tempted to dump another emo-venting post about this lovely (sarcasm) string of luck I've had recently, involving my car, finances, computer, and an even bigger..."upset"... that I'll get into later.

However, I want to acknowledge the personal significance of tomorrow. March 31st will my the last day with my current employer, which spanned from September 2nd, 2003 to April 31st, 2009.

2036 days (and change) Or 5 years, 6 months, 28 days, 8 hours

Alternative time units:

* 175,939,200 seconds
* 2,932,320 minutes
* 48,872 hours
* 290 weeks (rounded down)

That's also 19% of my life to date, or 6.25% of my theoretical maximum lifespan...

Any way you want to count it, it's a long time.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the decision to leave. I hope I've made the right decision and come away from this with a lot of lessons learned that I can apply to the future. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I'm downright terrified. Change--any change--can be daunting... and given the events of the past four days, most of the confidence I had in my future has been demolished.

I can only hope this is the proverbial darkness before the dawn. I know I'll get through whatever is ahead--but whether that experience will leave me stronger for persevering, or weaker for merely surviving it, time will tell.

A sliver of the waxing moon is visible outside my window, making its way to the western horizon. That's almost exactly the same moon I was born under 29 years ago. Hopefully this is a good sign.

Anyhow, I'm getting far too dramatic. Time for sleep and whatever tomorrow will bring.

Tags: career, changes, life, work
Current Mood: pensive
Current Music: Sarah McLachlan - Angel & Creed - Weathered

( venting about my now $600+ car repair bill )

Tags: arrrgh, car, stupidity
Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: Alanis Morissette - Uninvited

So I was driving to work this morning. Third last day at the satellite TV company. I rounded the second last corner before the work parking lot...

...Then all of a sudden I'm fish-tailing.

This shouldn't be possible, I thought, it's a front-wheel drive vehicle...

Next I feel my back end lurch and the nose of my car pitches up. In the split seconds that follow instinct kicks in and I start braking while steering my car to the curb.

Meanwhile my peripheral vision registers a large, dark, round object rolling alongside my car as I skid to a halt, the sickening sound of metal grinding on asphalt the whole way.

Somewhere along the way my brain reaches the conclusion of what's happened. My rear right wheel has sheared off from the vehicle. My heart racing, and very glad I was on an almost vacant piece of road, I get out to inspect the damage:



(the second picture is after it was towed to my mechanic)

Much cursing, swearing, and freaking out ensued before calling work to let them know I was going to be a bit late.

All things considered, I was very lucky. No one was injured. I recovered the missing wheel. And compared to what could have happened, my car sustained very minor damage.

Still, it's a $350.00 repair bill at a very inconvenient time.

Tags: arrrgh, car, stupidity, work
Current Mood: shaken
Current Music: Apocalyptica - I Don't Care

I just ordered a cake-type dessert at a restaurant. Without having to ask, it was actually presented with a fork. *gasp*

Normally, whenever I order a dessert, it comes with a spoon--regardless of whether a fork would make more sense.

Tags: via ljapp
Current Location: Denny's
Current Mood: Shocked

Repost from my DA journal:

Yikes... Last time I posted any new photos was August. And that was mostly old images that I dug up out of my heaps of unposted photos.

Well, my 2nd (soon to be only) job is already bearing creative fruit:

[link]
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The photos I took tonight weren't my best, but they're a good warm up for getting back into my photography again.

And I should have been in bed hours ago, but my muse demanded these be posted before I sleep.

*dies*

Tags: photography
Current Mood: artistic