It's a bad thing.
The last two days I have woken up an hour late, but I enjoy sleep, so that's not a bad thing.
I walk to work and back home everyday, but I enjoy the walk, so that's not a bad thing.
While I am walking to work I see all of these giant snowbanks. I walk past mounds and mounds of snow. I love snow, and remember playing in huge snowbanks as a child. But now I have to walk passed all of these wonderfully large snowbanks so I can get to work on time, or class on time, or do one of a hundred other things on time. No more playing in the snowbanks.
That's a bad thing.
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My girlfriend and I were watching a "Cops-like" show last night. In these shows, I noticed that the officers almost always ended up pointing their guns at the suspect. I wondered, if the suspects tried to run away, would the officers be able to shoot them.
"Sure they can," my girlfriend said.
"But what if they don't pose a threat to the officer. They don't try and pull a weapon, they just try and run away."
"That's resisting arrest. They can shoot you for that."
"Even if they suspect isn't threatening the police officer?"
"Sure. They shoot them and go for the good wound."
"Honey, you've seen "Speed" too many times."
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I hate those pest control commercials (like the ones for Orkin or "Roach Motels"). They always show close-ups of cockroaches and play those horrible little cockroach sounds.
I imagine that the cockroach sounds that they play are of cockroaches saying things like, "Come into this guy's apartment. Yeah! Apartment H805! There are plenty of good cockroach-things to eat in here!" So then I would have to use their services.
I need to stop watching so much television.
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I was reading a book last night while my girlfriend was "doing her toes". "Doing her toes" involves many things that I don't understand.
First she scrubs them with something, then she files them with something else, then she scrubs them again, then she'll either oil the cuticles or paint the nails.
What? All I do to my toes is cut the nails every two weeks or so.
Anyway. When she was done she asked me if her feet looked feminine.
Uh oh, I thought to myself. Let's see. She is a beautiful woman who likes to take care of the way she looks so I should probably answer "Yes, they do honey." but at the same time she is a strong, independent woman who likes to be thought of as a person, not just a woman, so maybe I should answer, "No honey, but they do look wonderful." oh man I hate questions like this why didn't she asks me if she looks pretty, I know that answer to that one, or she could have asked me if she looked fat in that shirt, i definitely know the answer to that one, oh man, she is looking at me, okay, answer her question, yes or no or yes or no or yes or no or
"Yes honey, they do."
She smiled. Yes! It was the right answer!
"Yes honey," she said. "It was the right answer."
I hate it when she reads my mind.
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My girlfriend chose to pay the taxes she owed the government last year in installment payments. Her last installment was this past September.
After making her final payment she received a notice from the government stating she owed another installment. She wrote them back stating she had paid them all their money.
They sent another bill. She sent another letter.
They sent another bill stating that if they billed her she had to pay it. She sent them a copy of the returned check and a note stating this was her final payment.
They sent another bill stating that if they billed her she had to pay it. She sent them a copy of a statement they sent stating she had paid all her money.
They sent another bill stating that if they billed her she had to pay it. She sent in a check for the amount they wanted.
Last week, she got a check for the amount she had paid them with a letter stating she had overpaid on her account and they were refunding her money.
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My girlfriend chose to pay the taxes she owed the government last year in installment payments. Her last installment was this past September.
After making her final payment she received a notice from the government stating she owed another installment. She wrote them back stating she had paid them all their money.
They sent another bill. She sent another letter.
They sent another bill stating that if they billed her she had to pay it. She sent them a copy of the returned check and a note stating this was her final payment.
They sent another bill stating that if they billed her she had to pay it. She sent them a copy of a statement they sent stating she had paid all her money.
They sent another bill stating that if they billed her she had to pay it. She sent in a check for the amount they wanted.
Last week, she got a check for the amount she had paid them with a letter stating she had overpaid on her account and they were refunding her money.
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Things I learned from watching tv over the weekend:
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I was trying to make myself an ice cream sundae last night when I discovered I couldn't get the top off the hot fudge.
The hot fudge jar has one of those screw caps, and the fudge seemed to have gotten on the screws and was binding the cap to the jar.
So I struggled and struggled while my girlfriend started giggling harder and harder at my obviously futile attempts.
I looked over at her and with an amazingly restrained voice said, "Would you like to try it, dear?"
She nodded so I gave the jar to her. She looked at it for a moment, tapped it on the bottom once, and twisted the top off.
"Thank you dear," I said in my amazingly restrained voice as I started rubbing fudge all over her face.
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When I was thirteen I had my first real kiss.
It was fall and my parents had taken a very nice and pretty girl named Allison and me to this wonderful state park that bordered Lake Michigan.
The leaves had changed, the air was crisp and the waves were crashing on the beach. Basically, it was romantic as heck.
We walked a bit along the sand, holding hands, and then went up a path that lead into the woods. Once we were far enough away from my parents, we started kissing.
After a while we stopped and looked at each other.
She smiled and said, "That was very nice."
I smiled back and said, "Yeah, but kissing tastes like dishwashing liquid."
Dishwashing liquid!
We broke up about a week later.
But in my defense, the kiss had tasted like dishwashing liquid.
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Sorry, still trying to recover my dignity after yesterday's post.
Now let's see, I know I left that dignity around here somewhere...
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I started taking some courses recently, and in them, I have to take notes - handwritten notes.
Back in the day, when I was finishing up my business degree, I didn't take notes (although I do not know if this was because most teachers gave out tacky, printed PowerPoint presentations of their lectures or because I just wasn't that interested in business - probably a bit of both).
Anyway, last night I had to take actual notes, with actual pen and paper. It was amazing! I had to sit down and think about the last time I actually handwrote something longer than a grocery list or a sappy, little note to my girlfriend.
It's been about five years.
All the "writing" I do now is typing. The short and long stories I write are done with a computer. All the code generated for this site is done, of course, on a computer. The presentations I give at work are all put together on a computer, including the notes for those presentations (unfortunately, I now occasionally give out the tacky, printed PowerPoint proposal).
When I was growing up, I wrote everything by hand. I never learned to type well, and those few times when I had to turn in an assignment that was typed, I struggled mightily with the typewriter or word processor (remember those!).
Actually using pen and paper. Amazing. What a novel idea
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Recap of Friday morning to Sunday evening:
Friday
5:29am - Enjoy dream of me flying through space without a spaceship - exploring new worlds, meeting space creatures, and spreading intergalactic peace.
5:30am - Alarm goes off. Remain as unconscious as possible while I hit the snooze button. Briefly revisit alien worlds.
6:15am - Wake up and realize a few things. 1) Managed to shut off alarm clock, not just hit the snooze button. 2) Must stop watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. 3) While I woke up late, I can still make it to work if I hurry.
6:45am - Begin walking to work and try to think up something to put in the web log.
7:00am - Get to work, type this for entry.
10:17am - Finish small xml/xsl/asp project I was working on. Remember there is a new ALA article out (actually two) and read them.
10:35am - Remember web development company I worked for that went out of business. They called me at 10:15pm on Easter Sunday to tell me not to come in the next day. Still waiting to receive 3 weeks pay they owe me. Also remember that a week and a half later I was working again.
10:37am - Think, Thank goodness that I am currently working for a good web development company that hasn't relied on venture capital or public stock options to stay in the black. They've been doing nice, controlled, slow growth and working here is just really neat-o.
10:46am - Receive company-wide email stating there is going to be a company-wide meeting at 11:15.
10:50am - Call mother to wish her a happy birthday.
10:57am - Manager comes to my cubicle and waits for me to get off phone.
10:58am - Mother asks me how work and school are going. I tell her work and school are going great but I have to get going because my manager is waiting. Happy birthday, Mom!
11:00am - Manager tells me he wants to see me in his office. He doesn't look happy.
11:00:05am - Try and think what I could have done to tick off manager.
11:00:25am - Walk into manager's office and see head HR lady sitting there waiting for us.
11:00:26am - Breathing and heart rate accelerate as I wait for them to tell me what's up.
11:00:55am - Consciously control breathing and tell myself to relax. It works - a bit.
11:01am - They begin talking.
11:03am - They finally get around to telling me that I, along with some other people, am being laid-off.
11:13am - After reassurances that it has nothing to do with job performance - I was just one of the newest guys and wasn't currently assigned to a big project - manager and HR lady give me business cards so I can use them as references. Meeting over. Decide to skip company-wide meeting.
11:15am - Call girlfriend to tell her I got laid-off.
12:15pm - Finish tying up loose ends.
12:26pm - Make sure the resume is up-to-date.
12:26pm - Try to think of web development firms that I've heard good things about so I can check if they have job openings.
12:30pm - Remember that I have heard very good things about this place and this place, it looks as though they are hiring interactive designers - woohoo! Send out resume.
12:45pm - Make sure that I have tied up all loose ends.
12:50pm - Fire-off emails to co-workers letting them know how much I enjoyed working with them and asking for some references.
12:55pm - Leave office.
1:00pm - It is a very cold, but very bright day outside. It is 1:00 in the afternoon and I am walking home from work, with my briefcase in hand, having just been laid-off from a job I liked. As I watch people walking around me I experience the sense of unreality that Nick was talking about.
1:05pm - Decide that I don't need to be anywhere in particular at the moment and enjoy a nice (if frigid) 2 hour walk around downtown Minneapolis.
3:03pm - Get home. Think how nice it was to take a long walk during the middle of the day
3:15pm - Girlfriend gets home about an hour and a half early.
3:15:10pm - Begin nice long hug.
4:30pm - Check email. Have received responses from 7 co-workers expressing their sympathy and letting me know they would be happy to be a reference for me. Man, I'm gonna miss that place.
6:00pm - Go for long walk with girlfriend. Enjoy the sights and sounds of downtown Minneapolis.
10:30pm - It has been a long day. Go to bed without watching Star Trek.
Saturday
8:00am - Wake up. Look at clock. Realize it is only 8:00 in the morning. Figure I must have made a mistake and fall back asleep.
9:30am - Wake up a second time. Look at clock. Think about waking up for a bit, but then decide against it and go back to sleep.
10:00am - Finally decide to get up.
10:30am - Realize that school is very expensive and I may have to drop out for the semester.
10:45am - Talk it over with girlfriend. We end up agreeing that it would probably be best to save the money for now.
11:00am - Log into school and drop courses. Ouch, that hurt.
11:15am - Realize I should probably call my family and tell them what happened, but it was my mom's birthday yesterday - can't bring myself to do it.
1:00pm - Look for some more places to apply.
8:00pm - Go to local comedy club with girlfriend for some laughs. It works.
Sunday
8:00am - Wake up.
8:15am - Go back to bed again.
10:00am - Wake up again.
10:15am - Realize I should probably call family.
10:45am - Call family.
11:30am - Finally manage to convince family that everything is all right and my girlfriend and I are doing well.
11:15am - Go to Barnes and Noble to stock up on books for the coming week.
12:30pm - Make list of things to do for coming week:
Find job
Clean apartment
Do laundry
Take lots of long walks
Read lots of good books
Wake up late
Enjoy not having to go to work
12:45pm - Realize that not having job might not be such a bad thing!
10:00pm - Make and post this web log entry so I don't have to get up tomorrow morning to do it.
10:30pm - Fall asleep knowing that I can sleep in tomorrow. Yeah. Maybe I'll dream of flying through space without a spaceship again.
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I accomplished something from yesterday's list. Actually, I accomplished quite a few things. I woke up late, read a good book, and did the laundry. But the thing I am most proud of is the cleaning! I did a major cleaning of the apartment! (no applause, please)
It wasn't just any cleaning, it was one of those spring cleanings - one of those really thorough, scrub the apartment from top to bottom and put everything back in its proper place type cleanings.
Unfortunately that means things are not where they usually are - which means I cannot find anything that I want to use (for instance, it took me 15 minutes to locate the stereo remote).
Someday I am hoping to find the toaster.
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Note to self: Do not attempt to walk through doorway before I open the door - it hurts.
Further note to self: Ignore previous note if goal is to make girlfriend choke on a refreshing beverage from laughter.
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So I've been in touch with this cool guy that I used to work with.
He was one of the unfortunate ones last Friday as well.
In fact, just hours before we were laid-off, we had a brief conversation that went something like this:
Me: "Here I am returning your chair." (I had borrowed one of the chairs in his area without asking - he wasn't there at the time, honest!)
Pat: *Says something witty which I can no longer remember*
Me: *Attempts to look crestfallen*
Pat: "Don't cry."
ME: *Begin to tear-up.*
We both snicker, not knowing that mere hours from now we will both really have a reason to cry.
Looking back on it now, I of course blame everything on him!
Then, this morning, I get an email from Pat saying that I blatantly left him out of last Friday's entry, and now he feels guilty for being so self-centered as to look for his name in last Friday's entry.
So, here you go Pat - it may not be last Friday's entry, but it *is* a Friday entry.
Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat Pat .
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All right folks. I've been learning how to use cookies (or as my girlfriend puts it, "crunching cookies"). Once you pick one of the skins, I'll give you a cookie (you supply the milk!) and then you will be good to go. So if you come back, all you have to do is go to http://access.bakiwop.com (no more mucking about with the letter of the skin and the underscore if you don't want to!) and you will be automatically bounced to your favorite skin. (With all the cookies and bouncing going on around here, this sure is one fun place!) When you want to change the skin, just click on "skin the bakiwop" in the nav and pick a new skin (I'll even give you another cookie!).
And don't worry, if you don't (or can't) accept cookies you can always type in the letter of your favorite skin followed by the underscore and then index.asp (example: a_index.asp) to get to your favorite skin. (Or you can just come here click on your favorite skin.)
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I've mentioned a couple of times in class that caffeine is a web developer's friend.
On Saturday, three of the students came into class, each carrying two styrofoam cups from Starbucks. I asked them what they were drinking and they said, "Double mocha cappuccinos".
I've taught them well.
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My girflriend looks at me last night and says, "Hey, I thought you did the dishes?"
"I did."
"There are still some in the sink."
"I thought you were soaking those."
"How could I be soaking those, they aren't in water?"
"Well, I didn't say you were doing a *good* job of soaking them."
caveat lector