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Flew out to DC on the 4th for the funeral, which was on the 6th. Much family in attendance. I find it odd that I ended up flying into Baltimore (where I was born) and that the funeral was held in Glen Burnie, about 3 miles from the house I was brought home to.
Spent a few days in DC with my brothers before heading to Denver last Monday. My mom wanted me to swing by for a visit and I didn't have anything I needed to do here in Seattle. The original intent was to stay in DC for a little bit, but my brother had to travel on business and my other brother was leaving Monday.
I spent a week in Colorado and it was good to see people, though one of my friends got filled in abruptly about the past six months.
I was supposed to fly out yesterday, but the flight was oversold and I volunteered to get bumped to another flight. As a result my ticket to Denver for July 4th is free. This was a wise decision, as there was very nasty weather over Denver yesterday and everything was delayed. They had to divert planes to other airport so they could refuel. That bad. I was originally scheduled on a flight through Phoenix last night but the delays would have left me 20 minutes to make my connection. Not happening. So I just said I was fine with flying this morning.
Now to read that book for Wednesday...Current Mood: awake Current Music: Colbert Report on the TV |
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Jun. 1st, 2009 @ 11:22 pm
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My father died today, unexpectedly, four days before his 63rd birthday.Current Mood: indescribable |
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No comment.
Time Repairs
Perhaps it's not what you think it means. An exercise left for the reader.
Tomorrow, outside for 2 hours, rain permitting, maybe some productive conversations in Wish Fulfillment Scenario #2 (waving a blue badge in someone's face).Current Mood:  thoughtful Current Music: Jack Bruce - Time Repairs |
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Saw a pretty cool tilt-shift photo of I-5 in Seattle posted up on Flickr tonight, which I found while looking at cool tilt-shift photos.
It was described as the I-5/I-90 interchange. It's actually the I-5/West Seattle Freeway interchange. And I commented with the correction. After which I felt like I'd just advanced two stages of geekiness towards the maladjusted fat guy with the ponytail hiding in his room. But it's obvious from the ramps and the number of lanes....those two bits look very different. Right? Right?!?!
What's worse is after I posted the comment, I also noticed that he called it a cloverleaf when it's actually a 4-level stack.
Make that four stages of geekiness.
Alternately, maybe it's just that I have enough free time to bother making a comment on Flickr these days. I think I'll stick to that.Current Mood: geeky Current Music: The Colbert Report in the background |
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I should be heading out the door right about now to drive far and wide, but I'm not. I've decided it prudent to wait a week or two to see if the swine flu will peter out, or if it's about to suddenly show up everywhere. I'm expecting the former, but hey...at least I'm not going all Howard Hughes over the matter. Well, aside from a large amount of quotes from "The Aviator" on the day the WHO raised their alert level.
(Now, about those blueprints...)
In other news, last week the unemployment folks got to my claim, and approved it in due course. I got the notification in mail last Saturday and was pretty happy at that.
So of course, this week when I went to file my weekly claim, the website tells me I need to reopen my claim. Now I'm pretty sure I haven't missed a week of filing my claim, in fact the last two weeks I was told "claim being evaluated." So, who knows what happened? I even went to a mandatory orientation seminar this week, about the lovely process of finding a new job and the resources available.
Yeeeah...now I get to plow through some other layer of bureaucracy.Current Mood:  amused Current Music: "The Shawshank Redemption" playing on HBO |
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I'm surprisingly good, animosity towards the man who fucked me and some entertaining dreams notwithstanding.
Jumping through unemployment hoops. Those of you expressing pessimism might do well to know I have some factual knives tucked behind my back in the event of a struggle. Or licensed professionals, should it come to that.
I think I've finally caught up on sleep after a week of days spent sleeping 12 hours.
Everyone who has seen or talked to me in the last few days have all remarked that I'm happier, or relaxed, or refreshed.
I'm planning a long absence from Seattle to visit family, and then have a good road trip down the coast. A long time ago, I promised myself a long vacation. Now it's time to collect. (ooh, isn't that a nice reference?)Current Mood: cheerful |
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I really can't comment on this too much, except that the premise is absurdly hilarious to me right now.Current Mood: amused |
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It is entirely possible that CAPE is beating me to the punch on the leaving bit. There are options for bringing in HR at this point. Quite honestly, my Friday meeting with my manager was...hostile.
A bitchier and more assertive Lord of the Synth would fight it out, and once upon a time would have fought it to a bleeding edge.
The beaten down Lord of the Synth just wants this shit to be over, and just wants to fucking rest for a time and regroup. The Lord of the Synth can summon no less than two dozen folks who will call bullshit on what is implied by one fucking sociopath of a manager. Who is, of course, convinced that I am not a good fit for MSFT, while I have 6 years worth of people who would say otherwise. I could say more, but hey, no matter now.
(ranting suppressed.)
The Lord of the Synth, of course, will lose this battle.Current Mood:  resigned |
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Heh.
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Mar. 5th, 2009 @ 01:36 am
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Heh.
My rickety 7-year-old machine survived the XP SP3 upgrade. Came out running faster, even.Current Mood: amused |
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Had a repeat of dinner with Jenna tonight, which I did enjoy muchly.
An interesting display of weather in the late hours tonight. Sprinkling rain. Much wind, blowing alternately warm and cold. An apt literal metaphor for my mind this night, I think.
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| » Heh. |
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Dragon Quest V finally gets a North American release...
...on my birthday, no less. Happy Birthday to me. Or something.
(Yes, this post is late, it was last Tuesday.)
Feb. 23rd, 2009 @ 12:59 am
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| » Well, there's a decision. |
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After all the crap I've put up with at work in the past (very nearly) 2 years, and all the crap in particular I've put up with in the past 8 months, I've come to a decision.
I'm quitting Microsoft.
Well, miracles happen and something might keep me from leaving, but frankly, a miracle would be wasted on this.
It's not because I hate working there. I've loved working there for a lot of the time I've spent at MSFT in various capacities. It's because I'm tired of what many of my former teammates describe, with a straight face, as "like being in an abusive relationship". It's because my management is capricious, moves the goalposts at every stage, and hasn't lived up to their end of the bargain for a long time. It's because that's left me on the edge of burnout for about as long.
I don't know how the timing of this will work. I'm looking for a job, but frankly I don't know if I'll find one before I decide to drop my resignation. And frankly, I don't care if I have a job before my last day, whenever that will be (it will be relatively soon).
Even the people who left my team to go be unemployed are happier now. And I probably will be too.
And yes, it's really 4:01AM, and no, I'm not making a drunken decision. I've been contemplating this at times for several months now.
Feb. 12th, 2009 @ 04:01 am
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| » Sunday |
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Woke up a bit later than planned.
Had a nice dinner with Jenna...which ended up stretching to the length of a French dinner, and this means I am beaming back this statement using a time machine, across a distance of eight years. Kidding. It was really only about 3 hours, and that was much longer than I thought it would be.
No, I am not resuming regular posting to the blog. Just a bit of being too tempted to not post.
Feb. 8th, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
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| » Obscure Jack Bruce... |
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Finally found "Automatic" online.
Let's see how long it takes me to find the CD copy.
Green And Blue, etc.
Jan. 17th, 2009 @ 02:34 am
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| » Really, I ended my LiveJournal, part 2 |
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I was planning to never post again, but I've already violated that, and too much is happening.
The past two days:
$3400+ of damage to my car, as many parts are more badly damaged than I thought from my cursory looks. Time to file an insurance claim.
Work has turned south. The same games are starting anew. I cannot believe I gave credit to those unworthy of my credit. I am now just trying to escape from a horribly damaging situation. (I'm willing to elaborate, but not in public. Ask if you're curious.)
Several emails exchanged with someone. I am happy for it.
The loss of my planned purchase of the fretless Warwick bass I alluded to a while ago. Can't afford it now. I'm still tempted.
A plan to just walk away from my current employment.
A new date picked for something conclusive.
Wonderful, er, Interesting times.
Also, my late-phase anthem again, as I discovered last July driving up 520 out of old Redmond, in what is now a happier time, to my chagrin:
Green And Blue
( Jack Bruce - Green And Blue )
Or, the later abbreviated version:
Jan. 10th, 2009 @ 02:44 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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Hmm. That's sad.
No, don't ask.
Jan. 6th, 2009 @ 01:35 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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(emerges from the darkness...)
A belated Happy New Year to everyone reading. If anyone reads this anymore.
(descends back into the darkness...)
Jan. 2nd, 2009 @ 02:15 am
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| » Hypocrisy. |
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I said I wasn't posting again, but the reaction to my Halloween effort has proved too much to resist.
I did Austin Powers for Halloween, with a bought costume and a prop I had the brilliant idea to do late the night before:
Low-res me in costume.
I spent four hours I shouldn't have stayed up in Photoshop making the fake book cover. Without the fonts and images needed to recreate the movie version of the book, I had to settle for a second edition:
The book cover.
Someone told me I have too much free time after looking at the fake cover. Those hours came out of sleep I should have been having, so all is still equal.
In other news:
I took the Viaduct tour in October and despite having not been there for 18 months, the WSDOT engineer leading the tour recognized me. This time we went out on the upper(northbound) deck. A beautiful sunny day in stark comparison to the horrible weather I had before.
I participated in the Entertainment & Devices division charity Texas Hold'Em tournament a week later and finished 15th out of a field of 170. Not a bad showing for me. Had it been a real tournament I'd have walked out doubling my money. But it was for charity and I'm happy to have blown the money playing poker for four hours. I missed the final table by three hands, and the hardcore poker players in my team are telling me to go play the Sunday tournament at the Tulalip Casino. Not quite ready for that. I'll spend more time losing in the many HE games at Microsoft first.
With one forthcoming exception, I will return to my eternal blog silence.
Dec. 2nd, 2008 @ 12:40 am
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| » The end of a phase. |
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Journal's over. Time to walk away...
Thanks for reading.
I'll be fine. Anyone reading knows how to get in touch with me by email or phone. (Also, I will still read the f-list from time to time.)
Date created: 2004-05-29 01:06:00
Date ended: 2008-10-12 02:46:28
Oct. 12th, 2008 @ 02:46 am
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| » I am the modren man. |
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I am the modren man.
I suppose I've just jumped the shark.
( Styx - Mr. Roboto )
Oct. 12th, 2008 @ 01:44 am
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| » Friday. |
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Long damn week.
Fireworks at work, me huddling down under them.
My Grand Escape possibly cut off under a hiring freeze in my division. It might still work if the freeze doesn't apply to heads lost to attrition, but my cynical side says it has gone the way of the dodo. But with the way this year has gone...yeah. Right. Like I'll catch a break I need.
Many undercurrents.
Going home and discovering that my new (well, six months ain't too new) roommate is quite the baker. Wow. His cakes are amazing.
Caught a good bit of an "I Love The '70s" marathon and was tickled at their surprisingly long bit on Doctor Who--I'd forgotten it went into syndication in the US the year I was born. (1978, for those who don't know.) It was followed by a segment on Devo--I find the concept of devolution most appropos now.
Many undercurrents.
Many, many undercurrents.
Oct. 11th, 2008 @ 12:57 am
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| » Fireworks. |
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Looks like the shit hit the fan at work today, and thankfully I am not involved...though it involves someone on my team.
I'm not going to post any details, except for saying "wow, bullshit." Fireworks are starting to go off and I'll be happy to stay at minimum safe distance.
And I'll just say that I'll be even happier to get the hell out after the past couple of days.
Oct. 9th, 2008 @ 12:19 am
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| » ... |
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...
(don't bother with comments. but that's redundant, ne?)
Time Repairs.
( Jack Bruce -- Time Repairs )
Oct. 8th, 2008 @ 01:26 am
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| » (No Subject) |
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Well, since I just sat around for 30 minutes with the goddamn braces on, I think I probably just hit a nerve last night.
(Still, specters of the past in my head, not appreciated these days.)
Other than that, life proceeds as usual.
Oct. 8th, 2008 @ 12:35 am
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| » Specters of the past... |
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Apparently I like to relive past traumas.
My roommate--the new one, who lives in my old room--mentioned to me yesterday that I'd left some stuff in his (formerly mine) closet. Amongst these items were my old wrist braces from Happy Fun Wrist Time in 2003.
I haven't given those things a good look in years, except for five-second stretches tossing them into the bigger storage available to me at the time. I'm still not sure why I didn't burn them, as I contemplated doing way back in 2004.
So I tried them on tonight. And they felt strangely comfortable...
...and within one minute, I was sobbing.
Some specters are best left unvisited.
Oct. 7th, 2008 @ 02:10 am
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lordofthesynth's journal
