Drunk Post #1

I blame the Sake for making me stand before you with unimpeded honesty right now....*hic*. For the last week, I have had to keep something to myself and it's only helped when I told close, personal friends.

What's this giant secret? Maybe I have been hesitant to share because the excess gloating could spark a premature visit from lady Karma. Sorry to say this baby (karma), but gloating like this is so worth it.

Apparently, the female I was recently brooding about has gotten herself knocked up~yes, she's pregnant, and no, it's not mine! I think my cackling could be heard echoing through the parking lot when I heard about it. I know it's mean to laugh at peoples' misfortune, but considering the mental strain I endured from the breakup, I felt a great relief come from hearing it. I'm really, truly not lying when I say that 'I'm over her'. No bullshit here, I'm not even wielding my +5 Two-handed shovel of 'Caca de toro'.

I'm also probably the last person to know amongst my circle of friends, which really doesn't bother me. It tells me that my friends were protecting me from my own grief. They were there for me during the breakdowns and fits of depression and I can't express enough how much I appreciate them for it.

I think I almost have all the gloating out of my system and I should probably let them know I'm aware of it so I can move on to becoming their friend (once again). I am actually pretty proud of them for keeping in spite of the fact that they haven't know eachother for more than a year. It reeks of a future custody battle, but I prefer to stay focused on the positive.

Sorry this wasn't much of a drunk post. Next time, I'll have to get extremely toasted prior to sharing my secrets with the world (in this case, the 5 or 6 people that read my blog).

The Memorial Weekend

Friday and Saturday night were dedicated to insobriety since my kiddies were with their Mother this weekend. Saturday, I went to my old stomping grounds~Modesto, CA. It may be a shithole, but I still have a number of friends (I speak with often) to visit. A few people I met in WoW were there as well, so other than a rampant allergy attack, I had a fantastic time.

Some of these people I've become very close with, and it amazes me how comfortable I was in their presence. Meeting folks in real life, after gaming with them for a while, is an enjoyable experience because it proves that this social setting (of multiplayer gaming) is acceptable to meet people you would've never met (or befriended) otherwise. It's just as genuine as it would be if you met them on the street. Who says I'm wasting my time with gaming?

Sure I could probably get laid more if I played less, but realistically, I need to get my shit in order before I have anything to offer the opposite sex. It seems I'm incapable of meeting women my age/interest without spending some time/capital/effort. All of these things, with the exception of time, are hard to obtain without significant life changes.

It may look like I'm getting down on myself, but truthfully, I am taking my flaws in stride and moving towards ousting them, or atleast making them less difficult to overcome.

Taking a break from my life, or at least part of it...

Today, I submitted my request for time off from work. I will be departing on Friday the 16th of June in the afternoon, hopefully early enough to avoid traffic going through LA County. I plan on staying until the 23rd or 24th depending on how anxious I am to return to my life. My twin sister is very excited that I'll be coming down. Her little kid is growing up wayyy too fast for my liking. He's almost as cute as my own children, but when you're dealing with fractions, I suppose it's just as well to say that he's equally adorable as my own flesh and blood.

I wont have a lot of capital to really enjoy myself in San Diego, but I have a feeling just being away from my life in the Bay will be enough for a little time to relax and unwind.

I realize that today's post was really not all that interesting~such is my life at the moment. Hope you all had a very enjoyable weekend!

'You get what you pay for'

Having worked in Customer Service for almost 7 years now, I know that there are no others as true as this quote. You truly get what you pay for, no matter what you're buying. Why do the $2 toys get broken within the first 2 hours you buy them? Because it costs $2. Sure there are exceptions to this rule, but those are few and far between.

Occasionally, I hear someone complain about how poor of service they get from a low-end technology (ie.Telco-ADSL) and I have to literally tip-toe around the answer of 'You get what you pay for'. When it really needs to be said, I say it, but only to law firms and churches.

What I really love to hear about (from a customer) is how much money they're losing as a result of their downtime:

Them: "I'm losing thousands of dollars for every minute this circuit is down!"

Me: "If your business is so dependent on the internet, perhaps you should think about getting a redundant connection."

*prolonged silence*

Them: "I'm already paying too much as it is! Your service is too expensive! SBC told me that they would give me faster speed with less than half the cost...what do you say to that??"

Me: "Well, they're definitely an option, but I'm not permitted to make recommendations about other internet providers."

Them: "I'm calling SBC right now!"

Me: *containing my absolute joy* "Sorry to hear that, perhaps you should inquire with them about the redundant connection."

As many of you probably already know, most companies are now outsourcing their Tech Support departments to other countries. SBC for example, relies on a few thousand people from India to handle their inbound calls. I've worked with them on several occasions and I can tell you that they provide the absolute minimum support possible. Please don't mistake my knocking these individuals directly...I'm merely pointing out that they're horribly undertrained and rely very heavily on their scripts. The blame is now pointed to the Companies that hired them to perform the task formerly designated for people here in the States.

My role as a Support Person is seriously impaired by having to work with these individuals. The language barrier has a lot to do with how well the phone conversation goes. Their script is what drives me insane. They adhere to it like it's their fucking life-vest! Sadly, they have no idea how stupid it makes them sound. This is exactly what your dollars are being spent on~outsourced indentured servants.

Most people end up getting frustrated and hang up, but we have to get them to do their job, as meaningless as it seems to be to them. Anyhow, I'm losing my momentum on this topic because it's just Old...like really old.

So yeah, like I said, you get what you pay for.

Anti-Customer Service Day

I suppose you could say that I'm letting a few spoiled apples effect my taste for the apple pie that used to be so sweet. Occasionally, I encounter someone that has absolutely no respect for the other person on the other side of the phone and I make it my goal to sway them away from it with unrelenting effort. This 'occasion' is starting to be seen less and less as I continue to experience 'burn-out' on a daily basis.

Maybe this is a sign that I've been in a Customer Service role for too long now? Probably. Every day is an effort to wake up, get showered, and drive to work. I'm amazed I've been doing it for so long now..at the same job.

Today, it was announced that a customer of ours was leaving and taking about a dozen separate circuits to one of our competitors. The management team (on the sales side in particular) was absolutely livid about it. Said customer was unsatisfied with how we were supporting their 'cheapest' circuits. I realize now that I am definitely not the best person to talk to about it because I would just bluntly tell them "you get what you pay for" and move on to the next ticket. When I was told about it, all I could do was laugh and exclaim 'Good riddance!'. Apparently, my coworkers were not prepared for this reaction and even stopped to guffaw at my statement.

I think today, i'll be focusing on emails...they're much less volatile.

Even the Roman Empire...

collapsed after their influence began to dwindle at their borders and eventually receded to history. My reign as 'top gamer' in the house (among my immediate family) will eventually dwindle once my kids manage to surpass me. It's really only a matter of time before they're able to run proverbial circles around me, but until that happens, I intend to enjoy it while I can.

I remember the day when I dethroned my old man. Things were never the same after that match of Sea Battle for the Intellivision game system. I'm not sure he even remembers it now, but at the time, he didn't play games with me unless he knew he was going to kick my ass. If memory also serves, he savored every moment of slaughtering me at every game he could...he was just much better at keeping a straight face when destroyed me.

It's probably my competitive nature coming out, but I find the same joy in mercilessly slaughtering them at modern console games. And when the day comes when they can say 'In your FACE Dad!', I'll smile and be proud of them for doing it.

Enough gloating, here's something disturbing

Kill me if I ever get this desperate...please. If I had a friend buy me a plastic fuck doll...I don't even know where to begin how confused I would be by this. Would this be a sign that my body languages shrieks that I am in need of sex? Should I be concerned that my friends have read me like a supermarket smut~romance novel? Why couldn't they really prove their friendship to me by forking out the 9-Grand for the model that talks?

I think I need to stop reading Craig's list...it's beginning to wear me down once again. Sorting through all the garbage there is really much like doing it literally. I feel like I need to wash my mouth out, take a shower and scrub myself with the heaviest antibacterial soap I can find. Still, sorting through the garbage, you get to see what sorta things people 'throw away'...and it's a well known fact that humans love to get dirty once in a while.

The Funk I am

Lately, I have come to realize that my lifestyle must change in order to spend more time with my kids. I'm at the point where I'm ready to start pulling myself out of my proverbial hole and move on with what I should've been doing years ago. Better now than never, no?

Financially speaking, I need to create a budget and stick with it. This is a fucking must.

Romantically speaking, I gotta stop thinking about sex/love/romance for a while until I get my Life back on track. Anyone know how I can disable this annoying male feature?

Physically speaking, I haven't seen a Doctor in almost a Decade. Yesterday was the first time I've seen an optometrist in almost that long. My new glasses will be arriving in a week or so. I'll be sure to post a pic once I achieve the next level of Nerdity~bespecklement! I'm not completely blind, but the Optometrist advised me to stop being so stubborn about seeing a physician. I also need exercise that doesn't cost me lots of money.

Mentally speaking, I could use a vacation from my life, but I don't think that's going to happen because I'm broke.

I know what needs to be done, but the tasks ahead of me are daunting, intimidating, and require discipline that I have to somehow find in myself. To all of you single parents out there, I salute you~how the fuck do you do it without resorting to a fetal position?

This weekend's agenda:

• Pick the kids up at their Grandmother's house
• Drive home
• Spend my hours apologizing for there not being an abundance of food in the house
• Game out with my kids
• Drive them back to Grandmother's on Sunday evening
• Plan my mini-vacation to my Parent's place

Have a pleasant weekend!

Advertisements and TV

One severe drawback to TV, as I've explained in the past, is that the advertisements pretty much drown out any interest I have in the program I'm watching. This is probably why I enjoy watching programs that don't have advertisements (HBO specifically) so much. Kudos to the guy that created DVR so we could naturally bypass those annoying advertisements. I realize that at my house, we have the ability to record shows and once I figure out how to do it, I'll record Southpark, my favorite nerd shows, and of course, Cartoons. Where the hell would I be without my toons?

Americans are Prudes

Another thing the Internet has shown us is how our culture differs from the rest of the world. I find it really interesting how utterly tame our advertisements are in comparison to foreign countries. Here is one my coworker forwarded to me and I'm still swearing at him because I can't leave my desk for another 15 minutes. Now after you watch that, please tell me what exactly they're selling...because I want it!

A Happy Mother Day

Well, it was a much happier day for some than others. My ex-wife had to move out of her place yesterday, so I suspect she's one that didn't have the greatest day. My mother is still recovering from her surgery, so she wasn't feeling all that hot yesterday either. Hopefully, all the other mothers I know had a better day. Happy Mom's day albeit a day late!

More dating advice from the CL Community

I found this link highly amusing. Thankfully, I'm not as poorly prepared as this guy's roommate, but sometimes I feel that number 6 is something I've only recently recognized as a colossal fucking mistake. Setting your expectations may sound great while you're day dreaming about them, but until you can smell her perfume on all of your clothing for a week straight, you're still dreaming.

My new approach to dating is pretty simple: I am going on dating hiatus which means that I have no ground to stand on when I complain I'm not getting any lately. I just don't see it in the stars this month and this is an expectation I can make without the prospect of disappointment. Meanwhile, if a nice woman does somehow make it into my life during that time, it'll be just like it usually is~unexpected and, often times, more exciting.

W4M on Craig's list

Recently, I have been browsing the W4M entries for 'Casual Encounters' in search of some extra-curricular activities (that don't involve strings). In true Craig's list fashion, this link pretty much sums up my chances of getting some through this source. For the record, I have responded to these posts in the past, but only managed to get my foot in the door on the few that replied.

Did I mention my dating status? I suppose my libido is on autopilot while the rest of me figures out what the fuck I'm going to do in the next week.

Another amusing post

Who needs visual aid to masturbate? Rhetorical question (for you smart asses). Enjoy the reading material! Have a pleasant weekend.

The weekend in preview

The time I spend away from my kids and work has become very valuable to me since I moved in with roommates. After living alone for almost 2 years, I had become acclimated to spending an enormous amount of time by myself. Now that I carpool, I'm now in the presence of another human being almost constantly from the time I wake up till I goto sleep. As you might've guessed, this is something that was hard to give up.

Things that splode

So this morning I had a bomb dropped in my lap about the status of my ex-wife and my children. Specifically, she reported that she is being evicted out of her house~I had somewhat prepared myself for this despite her boyfriend assuring me that things would work out. Strike against me for having faith in his ability to pull himself out of that deep hole. He's now 'MIA'
and it seems he wont be welcome in her life after all.

I could hear her anxiety in her voice when she broke the news to me..she sounded pretty worn-out, understandably so. Her plan is to go move in with her mother into a 1 bedroom apartment~'fucking cozy' would be an understatement. Still, her mother is relatively close to my residence which means the kids will probably be spending more time with me. What this also means is that I might be having my son live with me afterall. I was prepared for that as well, but I really have no idea how I'm going to be able to keep him occupied during the day while I am at work. The boy is 10 yrs old, and although I think that's too old for a babysitter, I also think he's too young to be left on his own while I'm working. Much to ponder.

Married Once, Divorced Never

The skinny of the situation is that we're still married, but have been separated for more than 3 years now. This coming wednesday would've been the 10th year of our marriage if either of us still observed it. For now, the only thing that still says we're 'married' is fictional piece of paper we signed 10 years ago. I mention this because there is still a part of me that cares for her well being. Not all of it was bad, just the last few years where we lost focus of who we were and decided that we weren't the same people as in the beginning.

With having been separated for more than 3 years now, we have comfortably become friends who still care about eachother. She still gives me dating tips and I occasionally examine the curvature of her buttocks when she's not looking. This is definitely the sex-crazed male in me that's responsible for the appreciation of her ass. Other than that, I doubt there's any romantic feelings I have left for her at this point. When we were first split up, it was a huge blow to my ego and I didn't really date much or even talk to women for awhile after that. I would've sacrificed a genital back then to feel half as secure as I feel now...time sure is effective for healing.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, my divorce with her is becoming imperative to improving my courting status. For some reason, women seem to see my marital status as being a huge turn-off. I've asked my male friends if they would still date a woman who was in my same situation (separated for 3 years, but not legally divorced) and they all responded with zero doubt in their minds that it would bother them. The women in my life seem to believe quite the opposite. This conclusion really has me thinking that I'm truly clueless when it comes to understanding how women think...how discouraging!

For the time being, it's really difficult watching her struggle like this and there's really nothing I can do about it but remain supportive. I know she appreciates it and her mother has definitely let me know that I'm not a Deadbeat dad. Although I don't seek her approval, I'd much rather have it than not.

Okay, I've rambled enough about this, hope you all have a nice weekend.

Crazy fucking kids and the things they say

I don't remember dropping either one of them on their heads, but I'd say their mother probably did it while I wasn't looking.

Last Friday, my kids were in the car with me (and my roommate Vern) on our way back to my house. So the little girl notices a bus in an adjacent lane and says to my son, 'Hey Calvin, there's your bus!' as she points to the 'Short Bus'. Immediately, Vern and I do our best not to show we're struggling to not laugh out loud about this. I doubt either one of them realized just how insulting it is to be dubbed a 'short bus kid', but you really had to be there to see how fucking hilarious it was.

For the record, my son does ride the short bus to and from school, but he's a fairly normal kid, I assure you.

Drawing a line in the sand

The hot debate for today is the synonym for Soft Drinks. It seems that somewhere in our history, we have somehow been divided in our terminology. How did this come up? Well, I suppose we were in midst of making fun of the Midwestern Accent at the time and I said 'Pop' when referring to a Soft Drink.

'Soda VS. Pop'

When I used to carpool with the ever-wise Grif, this topic came up atleast a few times, so I already had chosen my side of the line prior to this current debate. Our theory was that there was a point in America's timeline when our terminology for carbonated drinks morphed. We made many theories about this, but since the term 'Pop' is a verb, we concluded that the word spawned from inbreeding.

We decided that California is a 'Soda' state, as is Arizona and Washington. Oregon, Idaho, Utah, the majority of the Midwestern States are all 'Pop' states. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to anything East of Texas, so I might need some help with identifying other 'pop' states. Anyone have any clue what other states promote inbreeding?

I realize that I'm now saying that anyone who uses the term 'Pop' is here from inbreeding and therefore is using the wrong term to describe carbonated drinks, but I'm okay with making stereotypes...at least for now.

Workplace Funneh

In my immediate area, I'm often the 'go-to' guy when it comes to the written word. Sometimes, I'm called upon to give suggestions on synonyms and even play spell-checker guy when the occasion calls for it.

Today, a coworker asked me how to spell 'Psycho' and as soon as the question left his lips, I immediately banged out the answer~'P-S-Y-C-H-O' I declared just a tad too quickly. This prompted every one of my coworkers to stop what they were doing, turn to me and observe just how quickly I spelled that word.

Oops...guess they're onto me!

Life-changing weekend

Just as I had anticipated, life took an unexpected turn this weekend. It's far too complicated to elaborate just now, I'll probably get lost in all the details (as usual) anyhow. The only thing I could anticipate was that something monumental (emphasis on the mental) was going to take place soon. Not a 'when', or a 'why', just that things would change....I love that about 'gut feelings'...no freaking way to prepare for them.

The prospect that my son will be living with me soon has suddenly changed where I see myself in a few years. These are the most important years of his soon-to-be-adult life and I'd rather not take a passive role in this development. I'm already noticing the way he tests his boundaries, and there are times where I feel like I'm a complete bitch with the way I have to constantly correct him on his behavior.

In my opinion, the advantage of having children at such a young age (22 when my son was born), is that you can still remember what it was like to be their age. There are still times when I forget what goes through the mind of a 10-yr old boy, but then again, I had no idea just how naive I was until I was much older. The boy is as naive as I was for sure, and he's just now beginning to establish his place in the world. I sure as hell don't envy him for being his age. He still has to deal with Puberty, Adolescent adulthood, and general Social education. Although I can prepare him for most of it, there's still much of it he'll have to experience on his own for the lesson to be learned.

Parenting is about having faith in yourself and the way you raised your children. Given that my ex has been pretty much raising them for the last 3 years, I have very limited faith that the kids are prepared for what the future brings. In light of this, I've been thinking a lot about how I can spend more time with them.

Discipline

Certain obstacles are in my way right now~ones that will require discipline to remove/get around. For a long time, I've outright ignored them because, for some reason, I believed that they would go away out of pity for my situation. I can laugh at it right now because what else can you do when you're up against such far-fetched odds?

I do realize that I have the discipline to achieve this and as long as I keep on with the Baby steps (as mom always suggested), I'll make noticeable progress. I've already drawn up a list of things I need to 'check off' and I'm sure there will be more added to it later. For now, I look forward to the piece of mind of taking care of my shit so I can move onto other more important things, like watching/participating with my future's development.

Clearing out the queue

Another thing nagging me lately has been this anger I held toward the woman I used to date. While I realize that she poorly executed the breakup, she did say some things I'm only now starting to understand. After much personal debate, I have concluded that there were things not in my control that she couldn't deal with. For instance, my relationship with my children. Some women are cool with kids, others just simply don't want the competition. I'm now no longer feeling like this was something personal and as a result of this, I feel like a lot of the weight has disappeared.

This wasn't the only reason for my decision to drop the baggage. A close friend of mine that has watched this all unfold has been kind enough to slap me around with some reality. He invited me to an event to see his daughter perform on stage and I declined knowing that she (the ex-girlfriend) would be there. He then informed me that he didn't like having to keep me separate from his friend (he's close friends with her current boyfriend) because I can't seem to get over a 'stupid bitch'. Hard to laugh it off when you get the brutal truth of the situation. Hearing him say that made me realize how far I had taken this grudge.

In the past, I've made posts about 'being over her' and how wonderful it was to feel free from her...well that was all bullshit if you couldn't see through it back then. I figured if I put it in writing, then it must be the truth! *cough* More bullshit...see how vile that smells when you just shovel it out there and expect people to believe it?

In a way, I wont ever be over her. Part of me still really likes her as a person and the other half still wants the chance to have sex with her. The rest...will just be lost to history and provide a lesson if I choose to spend any time with her in the future. For now, I look forward to smiling at her in passing if I do happen to see her at work. I may not have much to say to her right now, but at least I can enjoy the environment here at work again.

Cinco De Mayo means something else for me

I wrote this a while back on my LJ, so yes, I'm admittedly using recycled material that most of you probably haven't read about me. This pretty much explains why this day is significant to me.

A light in the sky

I remember quite clearly walking into the the building feeling like something very significant just happened. My heart was still racing with anticipation as I made my way back to my workstation. The first person I told, aside from the women who were with me to witness the occurrence, was a Man (who happened to be a Christian) I worked with for a short period of time. I blurted it out like I didn't believe it as I was saying it.

"I just saw something in the sky," I paused to take in another deep breath while my mind raced, replaying the event repeatedly until I had formulated a working sentence, "It was square and had diamond-shapes etched into it. It glowed neon blue and seemed to rotate and just as quickly as it appeared, it streaked off into the western horizon." Whether or not this guy believed me really doesn't matter, he still humored me and listened to me retell it atleast twice before he spoke. I don't even remember what he said, but he never once said anything to indicate that he didn't believe me. The rest of my day passed by relatively quickly and when it came time to drive home, I sped home to tell my wife about it.

Some coworkers and I were outside having a smoke break. Suddenly, the woman facing the parking lot looked up, eyes wide with shock, then pointed, "Look!" She squeeked. The two of us turned on our heels and saw what she pointed out. In the sky, I saw a Blue Neon Rectangular shaped object descending to what appeared to be toward us. The Rectangle rotated about 45 degrees before it sped off into the distance in a streak of light. The whole event took place within about 5 seconds (I originally said 5 minutes, but there's no way it was even longer than 10 seconds) start to finish, but it seemed like a lot longer (probably from the anxiety of realizing what I saw). The three of us all looked to eachother wide-eyed and blinking at the utter perplexing thing we had all seen.

We didn't speak very much about on the day that it happened, but I did manage to corner one of them and get her to retell her version of the story. Other than a variation on how many diamond shapes there were etched in the object, she was right on the money with what I saw. I needed to hear that she saw it as well because I started to doubt that I had seen anything real at all (after a few months passed by).

The whole experience left me with a feeling of awe with the Universe. I suppose I've always believed that we are not alone in the Universe, but never had any real proof to make the difference. This was really all I needed to see to make me understand just how insignificant I was in comparison to the Universe. Consequently, this gave me the nudge I had needed to get past my religious hangups and drop them entirely. Since that time, I've become a much happier person knowing my place in the Universe: A piece of Free-thinking cosmic dust.

I still look back at that time as being when I finally woke up and began to appreciate the things around me for their finite qualities. I'm painfully aware of my mortality, but satisfied that I've procreated enough to make sure part of me lives on through my children. Kinda morbid way to look at things, but once I realized how unique it is for us (as Humans) to realize their own existence, I'm honored to be apart of it. I don't really excel at anything in the 'virtuoso' skill level, but I happen to think I make a great Human, and I can only hope others know this before we end up exterminating ourselves.

Smells like Poultry?

No Sam, I'm not talking about your kid. I'm talking about the Mexican government. They're apparently going to 'reconsider' the terms of the Bill. Gee wiz, could it be that our Government leaned on them to change their policy?

I still don't think this will help them enforce their drug policies any better. I've been to Mexico many times, the cops are all looking for bribes and rarely ever do as they're intended. Whenever I go there, I always make sure to throw my trash in a trash can, and if I can't find one, I carry it with me...i'm that paranoid that I'll end up in jail for doing something trivial.

Another Possible Win for the Drug Users

I have been in a more curious mood, as of late, to see what the rest of the world is up to. In that process, I stumbled upon this article about Mexico's proposed change to their Drug Enforcement Policy, or in this case, almost complete lack thereof.

I've lived in California for the better part of my life and until my late teens, I wasn't aware of just how many people are closet users. Since that time, I have discovered that there are drug users from every walk of life. It seems that there are more users up here in Northern California, but I think I'm getting a bit off track from my point.

Personally, I believe this is a step in the right direction for our neighbors to the South. They don't have the kind of capital to try and convict users they manage to stumble upon. I didn't even know Mexico had anything resembling a drug enforcement policy considering how easy it probably is to smuggle shit into the US. Hell, does Canada even have a Drug Enforcement Policy?

America's Drug enforcement policy is a fucking joke as well. To make matters worse, they're totally criminalizing the wrong drugs on the Radio/TV. All I hear about is anti-pot campaigns whenever I bother to listen to radio/watch TV. WTF people? Correct me if I'm wrong here, but aren't there other drugs out there that are significantly more addictive/dangerous? Maybe it's because I've been exclusively a pothead for the last 5 years, but I really resent that whoever-the-fuck makes these ads. They should be mentioning the other drugs while they're at it...pot isn't your problem you fuckfaces! Ever heard of Meth? Most of California knows what it is...why not mention that in your anti-drug campaign? The whole thing makes me think they're deliberately avoiding mention of the other drugs...I wonder why that might be.

Pot VS. Meth (Because I think Meth is a significantly larger problem)

• Pot may make you lazy, but Meth will keep you up for days and make you want to shop at Walmart at 3am.
• Pot has been rumored to make you sterile, but it seems like Meth users are breeding everywhere.
• Meth users are more prone to aggressive behavior in comparison to Potheads.
• I don't get random jack-asses drive up to me asking if I have any pot for sale...no, they ask me for Meth (when I lived in Modesto). On a side note, I had long hair, not sure if that gave them the impression I sold/used Meth.
• When was the last time you heard about a 'pot lab' exploding because they were using volatile chems?

Frankly, I'll admit that I've never used Meth, nor do I have any desire to try it. The Concensus of my friends that have experimented with it, however is that Pot isn't anywhere near as dangerous as Meth. I'll take their word for it.

I seriously don't think this Bill will have much effect on Drug Trafficking from Mexico. We're Americans, we need our Drugs dammit, and we'll still get them with or without Mexico's help.

Wake-up call for the snooty users

I have pretty much been a Windows/Unix user for the last decade and through that time, I have met a score of snooty MAC users. Once I discover their true nature (suspiciously 'plug and play'), there becomes this boundary I rarely will ever cross.

True to their nature, MAC users have separated themselves from the rest of the world and now, the majority of them view the 'other OS users' through their noses. This may not be the case for everyone, but I'm speaking from experience with specific people I've met in my history.

One specific point they bring up when they tell me why they love their 'Slackintosh' computer is because it doesn't get infected with Viruses. Perhaps it's because I work in the Abuse department and know that nothing is safe in this day and age from Viruses.

Recently, I've located an article that really didn't surprise me. In this article, it's mentioned that MACs are now becoming vulnerable to virus activity...how about that? I look forward to harassing users that assure me they have no viruses because they all run 'MACs' in their office. Coincidently, these are generally the most annoying people I have to work with because they know absolutely nothing technical. Why else would them buy MACs?

'Just fix it'

I'm going to continue my rant on the worst kind of human being on the planet (besides lawyers and religious fanatics of course); the asshole on the other side of the counter/phone that tells you to 'just fix it'. Right away sir/miss, it's a good thing we have people like you around here, otherwise, nothing would ever get fixed! These are indeed the most vile specimen the gene pool has to offer. I suppose this could be why I despise most management.

Why do I hate them so much? Hm, it could be the number of people I've dealt with that aren't willing to spend the extra 10 minutes answering some very basic questions. I consider myself a pretty tactful individual, so it's a very rare occasion where I find someone being completely unwilling to help me help them. Often times, when I'm working with users on the phone, it's because something needs to be done to the equipment they have at their location. This involves me verbally walking them through each step to get it reconfigured or diagnosed.

Once in a while, I'll get some dickhead Executive that actually believes that the ordeal is beneath them and then have the audacity to get pissy when I tell them how much it will cost to 'send someone out to fix it' as they just suggested. Sometimes, this slaps them into helping me, other times, I can't scarcely contain the arrogant smirk on my face while I tell them it will be 3 days till someone can fix their problem. Payback's a bitch...choke on it.

Blah

That pretty much sums up my weekend. I spent most of it being rather intoxicated and hoping that work would get destroyed by that a fire that never happened. I'm sure i'll get over it by the end of the day when it's time to leave.

I'm restless again for some reason...much like there's something very significant approaching. My gut tells me it's something bad, hopefully that's just a protest to stay away from the Rum for a while.

On a lighter note, at least the sun was shining all weekend. I realize that within a few months, I'll be bitching about how hot it is and how nice it would be to spend the day in the pool. For the time being, it was nice to look outside and see blue skies again.

The Dress Code

This is something that's being discussed here at work. By the way they're discussing it, unfortunately, it may be a reality. For 5 years now, I've worked in this casual environment and frankly, I don't see how they can just suddenly change it on us.

The reality of the situation is that it's already happening after my company was recently acquired by Netifice.

Who the fuck do these guys think they are? They're going to have one hell of a fight on their hands from Support unless the Director suddenly goes Jellyfish. I have a feeling this may be the straw that finally gets me off my ass to look for another career.

Quitting a job because they implement a dress code really isn't a valid reason, but damn, I feel really strong about keeping a casual work environment. It may be different for others, but my appearance has no influence on my quality of work.

My boss didn't like hearing my opinion about it...hopefully he'll do as he says and tell them that Support is not going to be very pleased with the dress code. It's probably futile to complain about this any longer, so I'm just going to wait for it to happen before I say anything else.