Category: general

I didn’t either. Oh, well.

But you already knew that.

At least I have five million other things to do to take my mind off it. (That is actually a good thing, as long as I don’t start freaking out.) It helps that Audrey is here and that I’m training her, because there’s less chance of missing something when there are two people dispatching…

But, you know, I don’t want to dispatch ;>

My hands, wrists, and elbows hurt. My eyes are tired. Data entry sucks.

Wanda quit yesterday. The future is uncertain. She was really the heart and soul of this place. Everyone loved her.

I am annoyed that my main feeling is resentment that I am not, nor will I ever be, the heart and soul of anything. Would people miss me if I left? Would Audrey cry? I’m getting the impression that the answer is no.

This is awesome. “DON’T DO DRUGS!” :D

Luke has written an absolutely wonderful piece this week. He says it’s about “Selectivity and inclusivity, now and then“, but I say it’s about the loss of innocence as we grow up–one of the most beautiful and terrible things to happen in life, and some of the best fodder for stories.

Give it a read; it’s quite lovely, and sad.

I am going to be working 8 hour shifts for the rest of the week, starting today. This is good, because otherwise I wouldn’t even come close to meeting the Monday deadline. (I’ve done some maths!)

At any rate, I’m home having a Healthy Choice dinner for lunch, because I’m trying to get my diet back on track, and because I can’t stand staying in the office for extended periods. It’s a pretty good meal, but I wanted to mention that it is impossible to freeze country-fried chicken and then expect it to taste like country-fried chicken. What it tastes like, dear friends, is frozen chicken nuggets. That it also looks like frozen chicken nuggets notwithstanding.

There is some sour cherry crisp stuff in here too. Teh yum…

You scored 100% Beginner, 93% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 94% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can’t find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don’t. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you’re not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

(via Kelly)

Apparently he noticed my rather vitriolic post about his portrayal of President Bush. Heh, heh.

This is why blogging rules. One of the rockstars of webcomics shows up at my blog. I mean, wow.

It’s probably too much to hope that he’ll stick around (especially since he was responding to a criticism), but this just serves as an example of how conversations can spring up between unlikely people here on the good ol’ Intarweb. I hope my blog attracts the attention of more interesting people. I hope this becomes a place of Great Dialogue.

For now, I’ll just content myself with repeating gleefully to myself, “T Campbell posted on my blog!”

I just applied for a job. It pays about the same as what I make now, but it has more hours.

I was told that I would be considered, but that I was overqualified, and they didn’t like to hire overqualified people because they tended to leave so quickly, regardless of their good intentions.

Fair enough.

But why is it that I only seem to find jobs that I’m over- or underqualified for? Where are the jobs in the middle?

I actually looked at Bloglines’ recommendations for a change, and one of them stood out: rantings [b e a u t i f u l]. I like her tagline: “honesty. what a concept.” Reminds me of…me! So I subscribed, and we’ll see how it goes :)

There was one really cool entry I wanted to highlight here. It’s called “The Morning After…“, and here’s the part I really liked:

One more thing, women: If you are ever upset with your significant other, go to him and tell him why. Don’t wait for him to ask and then reply with “nothing” hoping he’ll push for further details. Don’t leave the room and hope he’ll follow. Don’t play the martyr for sympathy. And don’t, and I emphasize DON’T refuse to tell him and then expect him to know why – that whole “If you don’t know I’m not telling you” crap. You’d be amazed at how quickly so many issues can be completely resolved when you approach a guy in the straightforward, logical manner in which his brain is wired. What a concept.

It’s really hard to avoid acting like, well, a girl :> I’ve had my problems with it in the past. But really, it does no one any good to bottle feelings up…and how can he help if he doesn’t know what’s wrong?

I guess I just feel like posting today. Here’s the story, from AP, via Yahoo!.

A free tool AOL is offering beginning Monday integrates “buddy list” information from AOL Instant Messenger with Outlook.

When you receive an e-mail from an AIM member who is online, a yellow “running man” logo appears in the “from” line next to the e-mail address. If you believe a quick chat session might be more appropriate in reply than a series of further e-mails back and forth, clicking on the logo launches the AIM software for you.

Apparently the tool will eventually be able to tell you whether or not your colleague is busy, or in a bad mood.

This last bit is interesting:

AOL also announced deals to have similar buddy list information integrated with third-party Web sites. With Thomson Financial, for instance, brokers and sellers will be able to negotiate in real-time through instant messaging. At CareerBuilder.com, prospective employers can contact job seekers instantly.

Can you imagine having an IM conversation with a potential employer?

Employer123: Hello there. I saw your resume on CareerBuilder, and I think you might be a good fit for our company.
Matt6969: who r u
Employer123: My name is Peter Reynolds. I represent Company 123 here in Augusta.
Matt6969: haha aarno i no its u
Matt6969: siriusly stop jokin man
Matt6969: hello
Employer123: Thank you for your time.

Here’s a story on Japan Today about some of the ways in which this new proposed constitution will differ from the existing constitution, which was written by the Allied forces in 1947. Some highlights:

According to its basic concept, a subcommittee of the LDP’s constitutional drafting committee says, “It should be permissible under the law to restrict or ban publication or sale of books that have a detrimental effect on young people’s upbringing’ – an apparent reference to obscene books or videos.

The subcommittee, led by House of Representatives member Hajime Funada, also says in the basic policy stance, “There should be restrictions on forming associations that aim at damaging the state or social order.”

Further, it emphasizes the obligations citizens have to defend the country, protect their families and the environment and respect life, even at the expense of individual freedoms.

Concerning Article 20, which guarantees freedom of religion and bans religious organizations from receiving any privileges from the state and exercising political authority, the subcommittee will propose allowing the authorities to be involved in Shinto ceremonies and fund them from the public purse, “as they belong to accepted social protocol.”

I don’t know enough about politics or law or Japanese history to make any comments. I have some gut reactions, but I feel that voicing them would be unfair.

Another suicide attack.

They’re sending a message to the Iraqi people, that’s for sure.

God, the street is just covered with blood.

Tony Blair responded with rhetoric. I’m sort of amazed that he’s capable of that. I guess I would make a sorry politician, because there’s no way I could talk about this and leave out the terrorists’ side.

It’s obvious why they chose this target. Here are people who are signing up for an “army” put in place by the Evil Westerners. Destroying them must seem perfectly justified.

We can talk about how vile and unconscionable the terrorists’ tactics are until we’re blue in the face–and don’t get me wrong, they are vile–but will this accomplish anything? Won’t people eventually stop caring? “Oh, the terrorists have done it again.” Won’t the words “vile”, “horrible”, “sick” start losing their meaning?

Is there some way the world leaders can approach this, without giving the terrorists any justification for their crimes, that could lead to a dialogue about better ways of stopping terror? Isn’t there some way we can show the people of Arab nations that they can get what they want without the use of terror tactics?

Or are we just too different?

There are things I disagree with going on in this country, but the farthest I’d go is civil disobedience, because I believe that at its core, our system is functional and should be preserved. I guess this might not be the case elsewhere…

But we are all human beings. We are all capable of evil. What is it that drives people past the point of no return? Can’t something be done about it?

The DA is denying the information.

If this was Japan, the police would tell us everything about the investigation immediately. I noticed that with the Nara schoolgirl killer case…the newspapers kept reporting everything the guy said during his interrogation. I’m not really sure which approach is weirder :>