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Pretty accurate. Neat!

Ted took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! “Strives for a life rich in activity and experience…” Click here to read the rest of the results.

Work has been crazy lately. It’s been rough, but the mad overtime has been pretty sweet. Since I’m working so much overtime lately, I’ve been thinking of treating myself to a little something. The “little something” just happens to be a new “Dell Axim(Dell Axim)”:http://www.dell.com/axim. I have the first generation of Axim that came out, but it’s starting to show its age with the older software, hardware issues that plagued the first generation, and the heft of the unit.

The new Axim is pretty sweet, though. It has a VGA(640 x 480 resolution) screen, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a lot of other nifty features. The only thing bad about it is its price. It’s one of the cheaper PocketPC devices for it’s feature set, but it’s still a little pricey for my wallet. So I’ve been trying to make a list of things I’d use it for so that I can justify treating myself.

*UPDATE*
I just purchased the Axim. I figure I’ve got at least two more weeks of pay coming to me from work, and if I just can’t stand the new Axim, I have 21 days to return it. I know it’s not the proper way to think about buying something, but the return policy has always been my best friend with my buyer’s remorse.

*UPDATE 2*
Good thing I bought it when I did. The 20% off promotion ends on the 29th. It’s saving me over $100 on the device. Sweet.

For most people, this wouldn’t be a big deal, but the fact that I’ve worked 50 hours in the past week makes me exhausted. After not working at all for a little over a year, working full time (37.5 hours a week) and then pulling overtime just takes it’s toll on me.

The reason for all this overtime is the computer/publishing system transition at the paper. We’re going from version 4.3 of our system running on old PowerMac 8600s to version 5.5 running on brand-new G5 iMacs. It’s a huge leap, and a lot of the features we used to build ads are no longer there, so it’s almost like a step backwards. There’s going to be hell on Monday when the real estate clients are notified that they can no longer have rotate banners on their ads, and that changes to ads will have to drop dramatically since most of the larger ads have to be built in the composing department and not by us. And the composing department, I hear, is terrible at their job and most changes that we request aren’t done. So it’ll be fun, and it may cause the paper to lose advertising clients and money.

I’ve also applied for a job in the IT department of the paper, but have yet to hear anything about it. In fact, I got a minor reprimand the other day for helping people with their computer issues in my department because I’m taking away the job for the IT workers. Damn union environments. As a friend of mine said, “Unions are only good for the lazy members who won’t suffer the consequences of their own incompetence.” They can do almost no work, still get the exceptional pay and outstanding benefits, and not get fired.

The one true religion.

This morning I had to take Serif to the vet for an annual checkup and vaccinations. I stuffed him in the cat carrier and he instantly started throwing a fit and howling. He meowed, quite loudly, the entire way to the vet — and then back home from the vet. He didn’t enjoy that at all. Once at the vet, he was very quiet and well behaved. I opened the door to the carrier in the exam room, and he hesitated coming out. Once I squatted in front of him, he found the bravery to come out and explore a little. He jumped off the table, but shortly after jumped back up and just laid down. He was very affectionate, but he usually is when he’s scared. The vet came in the room and started the examination.

Now, considering how Serif started life — being found behind an oven at the dump (or something like that), and then being a typical “shelter cat” with herpes infections causing chronic sneezing and runny, goopey eyes — he was quite healthy. He weighs 12.9 pounds. His teeth are perfect. He’s not sneezing anymore, and his eyes have cleared up. The only puzzling thing today was his waxy ears, but that may just be a hold-out from having mites as a kitten.

And now, despite all the trauma I put him through, he’s laying on my bed sleeping, not wanting to leave my side.

He’s a good kitten.

Yesterday at work I was outfitted with a new computer at my desk. It’s a spiffy new “iMac”:http://www.apple.com/imac with a 1.8GHz G5 processor, and 512MB of RAM. The 17-inch screen on it is pretty sweet, and pretty crisp, but I’ve never been a fan of how Macintosh displays are a bit washed out. I haven’t tried to change it, but I’m sure I could.

The application we’re using now only runs in Classic, and not OS X, but the new software that we’re getting these spiffy machines for does work in OS X, so that’ll be sweet — as long as I survive the switch. There will be a week of testing, then a week of “double entry” (which sounds dirty), and then just getting used to the whole system. It shall be fun, and I’m sure I’ll be able to get some overtime in at a sweet time-and-a-half pay rate.

Yesterday I went to Hannaford to get a few grocery-type things. When I was at the deli getting some cheese and meat for my work lunch, a guy came up behind me and was waiting to be waited on. You may think it’s mean for me to say what I’m about to, but I don’t really care.

He was dressed wearing a forest green t-shirt that was almost hidden by his “I’m going to fucking blind you” fluorescent orange cammo-print bib over-all shorts with a fanny pack pulled around to the front, and sandals with white socks pulled up to his shins. He also had a thick, black eyebrow. Yes, just one — it reached from one eye to the other.

If the dress didn’t give it away, it was confirmed when he opened his mouth to order. He was retarded. I don’t know where his caretaker was, but they were no where around. He had a major studder, and had to have things just right. Perhaps he was autistic. He had to have “ju-j-j-j-just o-over a-a-a-a-a-a-a h-half a-a-a p-po-p-pound” of his meat and his macaroni salad.

He didn’t bother me in any way directly, but just his existence annoyed me. I’m a horrible person — I’ve come to terms with that and I’m okay with it.

It’s a photo site about cats. In sinks. Some awful cute cats in here!

I thought I would take a moment and make a short list of things that have happened recently. I’ve been kind of busy, so I haven’t updated. But I also have felt like I have nothing to say on here anymore. But, here’s the update:

* I helped “a friend”:http://www.davethebad.com move this past weekend. I still have mysterious bruises all over my body from it.
* Work has been going great. There are still rumors of me getting a permanent job there at some point, though nothing’s certain.
* I filled up on gas last night, and it took me $35. And BJs Wholesale Club had closed their pumps because they ran out of gas. All I have to say about that whole gas situation is: “Fuck!”
* I got word that the paper might keep me in the composing department after my assignment in classifieds is up. And by saying that, I probably just jinxed myself.