Category: Uncategorized Page 124 of 157

I went and gave blood yesterday and though I had an appointment, things still didn’t really go smoothly. No one really wanted to jump in front of someone else that had walked in just because they had an appointment. It was a little awkward. Also, I had a trainee taking my blood. She was a little nervous, but did okay. The idiot in the chair next to me kept asking stupid questions and had a trainee that did not do a great job. Karma, I guess.

Anyway, I thought it was weird that a known “busy” location would have two trainees, a supervisor, and only one regular person taking the blood. Slowed things down quite a bit. The actual process was pretty easy, I usually don’t have much trouble.

And I got a nifty cool jacket out of the deal – I wore it to work today.

Played fable last night, beat the arena and spared by rival (thus earning a pile of respect) and then overthrew the mayor of Bowertown after talking to her sister’s ghost and learning the Terrible Truth. It was exhausting. 🙂

I’m headed for Sushi today with the rest of the webteam. Should be fun.

Well, got a bit of work to do before we leave, better crank up the Britney Spears and get back to it. 🙂 later…

There’s a walmart near where I live. And I’ve been in walmarts that one might, if one were so inclined, consider slightly upscale. This is not one of them. I’m not going to talk about the cleanliness of the store, nor the various insanities and domestic issues that the patrons had. In fact, my concern this time isn’t really for walmat at all – it’s merely a vehicle for the behavior that places me in the crushing grip of rage that knows no bounds.

And that is: PEOPLE WILL NOT GET OUT OF MY F*#&ING WAY!

Every single aisle, filled to overflowing with mindless zombies wielding shopping carts designed to block the way at every turn. All I want are some snacks and a DVD – and just navigating through the store nearly did me in.

So, what to do about?

1. Change the traffic patterns so people don’t have to cross a high traffic parking area to get to the store. Either make it more dangerous so that the clueless people get killed off before they can get in the store, or safer so that everyone is more relaxed and in a better mood upon entering. As it is now, it’s just annoying.

2. Put some arrows on the floor. People will follow directions if they are given. A simple set of arrows in an aisle will help split up the flow of traffic in the store and create order.

3. The self-checkout can be helpful if you are only getting a few items, unless you get stuck behind a moron buying 20 pieces of crap, including items that have to be verified by a clerk, and then they insisted on paying for their purchases with crumpled bills that the scanner can’t read! My solution is to have a simple IQ test before entering the self checkout area – something along the lines of a rat and a food pellet. If you fail the test, you get sent over to the regular checkout where a highly trained CSR will be happy to help you.

4. A computer controlled, voice activated, death ray. If someone near you says excuse me and you do not immediately say, “Oh, I’m sorry” and move out of the way, a laser mounted on the ceiling will fire a warning shot at you, just enough to give you a bad sun-burn. A second offense, and you’re incinerated.

I don’t know if that will solve all the problems, but we have to start somewhere.

In other news…

I played a kick-ass game this weekend called “Fable”. You start as a generic hero who’s actions influence his visual look, how townspeople react and how abilities advance. It’s visually impressive with some cool RPG elements. And it’s really well written as well. My character was walking along when a villager ran up and told me his wife was in danger and trapped by a Balverine. (think badger and were-wolf, and then piss it off). So, I ran after him and then got ambushed by about 20 bandits who were really pissed off that I had humiliated their leader a while back. I dispatched them, then caught up with the guy that had set me up. He apoligised and gave me a sack of gold as thanks for not kicking his sorry ass. It was really clever – I got duped just as a “real” hero might have.

Also over the weekend, I went to a party with some friends. We hung out for a bit and then played a round of Scene It – the music edition. I’m not as good with music trivia and it took most of the game to get out of the starting gate. However, I’m really good at the visual puzzles and that – along with some good rolls of the dice, catapulted me around the board and into the winner’s circle. I was congradulated, but I don’t think there was a lot of emotion behind it. Well, there were emotions- just not good ones. It didn’t help that I gloated a bit.

So, that’s it for now. Time to get back to work…

So, I got a bill from AT&T last night. A Final Bill Revised. That alone was enough to annoy me. I’ve had some issues with AT&T in the past – once they delayed connecting my long distance call to give me a brief commercial – and they got an angry email from me about that. This time, though, was after I’d already canceled my service. I got a Final Bill, paid it, then got a collection notice a few days later. I called and they said the notice went out before they got my check – and that I now has a zero balance. So, the Final Bill Revised – with a charge of $.32 – was really annoying. I called and found out they had a “billing error” and that the charge would be removed. I asked that they send me a paid in full notice for my records and they said they would.

What I don’t get is why I’m still in the system. I canceled my service, paid my final bill, and had a zero balance. Should be case, and account, closed. So, I’ll wait for my letter and see what happens.

I had a bad dream last night – actually several, but only one really sticks out. Or in, as the case may be. In the dream, I discovered that I’d – at some point – laid down on a bunch of upholstery tacks. These are like thumb tacks, except longer and with a spiral screw-type shape. I didn’t just get poked, they were screwed into my back by my own weight when I lay on them. I didn’t notice them until I looked in a mirror and saw what they were and noticed the infection. So, I spent the rest of the dream trying to find someone to help me unscrew them and pull them out. Each person I would find would pull one out, but then get freaked and refuse to do any more. And I had dozens of them in my back – some so deep the infected skin was starting to cover them. Not much pain as I remember, but scary – especially since I couldn’t reach them.

Which is actually a little odd since I’m limber enough to reach all of my back. I still had a lot of tacks in my back when I woke up – it was damn odd.

Over the past weekend, I went to visit my folks, my sister and my brother-in-law for Easter. We hung out, watched some movies, and went to a couple of church services. Not really my cup of tea (normally, green tea with mango) – but it was okay.

One of the movies we watched was I, Robot – which I’ve seen and I enjoyed – but one bit really stuck with me. The head engineering says this about robot evolution:

“When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote… of a soul? “

Heavy stuff. Well, that’s about it for now, time to get back to work…

I did some running around yesterday – first to the DMV for an address change. I went the “Fill out the form and send it in for free” rather than the pay $19.50 to do it there. I missed my turn pulling into the place and ended up in some fairly not good parts of Akron. Had to use the “fundamental interconnectedness of things” method of navigation – find someone who looks like they know where they are going and follow them. As before, worked like a charm and I was back on track in no time.

I also went and bought a windchime stand which might end up annoying the neighbors. The windchime, not the stand – although it’s a contributing factor.

Then, time for a haircut. And considering how indecisive I was, it’s a wonder I didn’t come out of there with a frosted tipped mohawk. Really unlike me, but luckily the stylist was indecisive as well and we muddled about until I just ended up with shorter hair.

That’s about it for now… back to work…

Work has been really busy recently – mostly surveys and survey software demos. I think I’m keeping up with it all, but seems like we keep getting wave after wave of small changes. Hey, job security.

We’ve also got to sign the same conflict of interest form we sign every year. Last time, I tried to get it turned into an electronic document – with no success. I’d really like to just check a box somewhere that says, “it’s still the same as last year” – but we can’t do that either. It’s such a waste of time and paper.

The weather has been excellent recently and I’ve spent some time outside enjoying it after work. Did some reading – including a couple of zombie novels and the really excellent Daywatch book – sequel to Nightwatch, naturally. I’m looking forward to some backyard soccer and Frisbee.

A couple weeks ago, my sister and brother in law called me as I was headed off to bed. They were trying to remember lyrics/storylines to Pecos Bill and Big Bad John, respectively. So, I fired up my high-speed internet and looked them up. And then, read/sang them aloud.
That was pretty much the conversation, so we all said good-night and went to sleep.

Not too much else going on – except that I’m swimming 12 laps now without too much trouble. I think I need to stick with that for a while until I increase my speed.

That’s it for now… back to work…

The doctor visit went fine… some highlights:

The preliminary checks were done by a young woman who turned out to be pre-med. She asked where I worked and I told her “The University of Akron, webteam.” Then I paused and continued, “I’m a geek”. She responded cheerfully that, “I’m a geek too – I’m pre-med at UA”

I was a little puzzled by her jumping of the logic tracks, but I went along with it.

The doctor didn’t recognize from my last trip there – “That was you?” he exclaimed. He verified that my symptoms were consistent with a bad migraine and gave me a prescription. He said his nurse would help me with a referral for an oral surgeon for my TMJ – though I haven’t heard back from them yet.

I couldn’t find my insurance card, but it was okay at the doctor’s office. However, when I went to get the prescription filled, they insisted on having it. Which is dumb – they could have looked me up based on my last name – there’s only three of us in the state. Nope – so, I had to waste a trip back there to get the over priced drugs. Which I’m only supposed to take if my head starts to get really bad.

I’ve had a couple migraines since then, including one that ran and hid in the presence of motrin, then came back later on the other side of my head. And my jaw is still not quite right.

But, on the positive side of things – I’m swimming even better than before. The boss was gone for the day recently and I took a little longer lunch and did 12 laps. Felt pretty good afterward.

Read some kick-ass zombie books that didn’t give me nightmares – then read the book DayWatch – which did mess up my sleep. And it wasn’t even as scary.

I beat the game “God of War2” – and was a little disappointed in the ending. It was too much of a set up for GoW3. Sort of like the ending to Pirates of the Caribbean (sp?) – 2. The movie was totally a set up for 3.

Working on a project at home for a big box for my cranes – plexiglass is the name of the game.

Work is busy – but I’m getting a lot accomplished.

I guess there’s more stuff to talk about, but I need to get back to it. I’m going to try and get back into the habit of blogging. I think it’s good for me.

back to work…

I asked my room-mate to write up some notes on the migraine day, which I’ve then added to so that I have a better picture of what happened. I’ve got a doctor’s appointment this morning – I’m hoping to get a bit more clarity on what happened to me. Also got some TMJ issues going on and I think I’ve got a wisdom tooth coming in. Yeah, I’m a mess.

Got a bit for work to do before the appointment – better get back to it…

Got some photos of the purple dude:

http://gozips.uakron.edu/~aws/purple2.html

Busy day today, better get back to it….

Heard a cool song this morning on the radio and I found it again on youtube – been listening to it most of the day. The singer is Regina Spektor and the song is “Fidelity”. Great little song, the video is pretty nice too.

My Temporal Mandibular Joint Disorder (or TMJ) has flared up again today. I yawned this morning and I felt things shift – and not shift back. Which is troubling and not a little painful. I’ve tried to force it back into place without much luck – I’ll try and ice it up later and give it another go later. Until then, minimize talking and eating.

Work has been very busy recently, not sure what’s up with that. I think we’ve finally got enough people that we can do more than just damage control – except that we still have to do the damage control too.

Anyway, that’s it for now, back to work…

I was in a meeting a while back with the Student Life office and, as I’m known to do, I folded a small person out of paper during the meeting. Though I try to be subtle and do it mainly because I’m a little bored, they were still impressed. They made mention of some banner paper they have and offered to give me some. On Friday, I decided to take them up on it. I got three sheets of about 9 ft by 3 ft of bright purple banner paper.

After work, I took over the conference room and taped the paper together. That, along with measuring and cutting down to an 8 ft by 8 inch square took me about an hour. Another 2 hours later and I’d folded it into about a 6 foot all purple person.

Why would I do it? Because I could. He won’t stand up on his own – unlike his more reasonably sized bretheren – and I think I folded the waist wrong, but I’m still pleased at the result. No idea what to do with him – I guess I’ll figure that out soon enough. I’ll try and get pictures one of these days.

Finally got some bills for the “great migraine of 2007”. The bill – which was labeled “not a bill” from the doctor’s office came to $15.00 Sort of. The math was way funky on it and the final total of the co-pay is anyone’s guess.

The hospital bill was quite clear. And insane. A person could take the amount I was charged for my one night stay in “hotel del wake-you-up-every-two-hours” and purchase a car. Not my car, mind you – a nicer car. With power everything and cruise control. And perhaps, a sun roof.

I’m not going to dwell on what the number actually was since this was billed to insurance and I’m not sure how much the final bill will be – but it was still insane.

Two things that do stand out:

1. Speech Pathology. This lady came into my room on Friday morning to check to see if I could swallow and speak. Valid concerns, to be sure. She fed me a variety of cold substances and placed her hand on my throat (which I despise) to check the swallowing function. She then had me read from a card – which I also did without a problem. All fine and/or dandy. Except…

The night before, they also had me read from the same card and gave me a swallow test before I had some of the most completely horrible food on the planet. I also ate again the next morning before the speech pathology lady showed up. And her final diagnosis was that I didn’t need her help. I was still charged over $400 for her services.

2. The MRI. It’s a really big and noisy machine. Wildly uncomfortable. And, apparently, really expensive to run. I think it was around $1200 for that session. I get that it’s expensive for the hospital and they need to re-coop the costs. But, holy crap, I didn’t want to buy the damn thing all by myself! I mean, if I’d known it was like that, I would have gone home and used the really strong magnets off of my fridge.

And, incidentally, I was asked what kind of music I would want to hear. I requested “Contemporary. Top 40’s. No country.” What do I get? It starts off with country since that was what the last wanker was listening to. Then it switches over to top 40’s – from the 1940’s. For that kind of money, you get Brittany Spears to come over and sing live for me. It’s not like she’s doing anything now except waiting for her hair to grow back out.

So, I’m cranky about the bills and waiting for the final total.

In “money coming in news” – I got the deposit back from my previous apartment. And for the full amount – which surprised me a bit since my former room-mate had done some serious damage that was beyond my capacity to fix. So, that will go in the bank and wait quietly to be blown away by my hospital bills.

My room-mate and I bought a desk over the week-end and I put it together on Saturday. It was one of those sauder ones that usually go together like legos, but this one was a bit more complicated. Still, it wasn’t too bad and it looks nice, so I think it was worth the money and effort.

I also played some games this weekend – but did not really enjoy them. Kingdom Hearts 2 – a timed boss battle. Those are freaking evil. Took me 4 tries to wipe out his minions in the time allotted, then nearly had him destroyed before he threw out more minions and this time I didn’t finish them in time. So sorry, start over. So, I leveled up a bit and tried it again. And did worse. So, I switched to the computer and played Fate for a bit. Then I died and was teleported up three levels, but had to leave my gold behind. Then I fought my way back down and couldn’t get past a box on the floor that was blocking the path to where I’d left the money. So, I skipped it and went down another level, where the game promptly crashed. Nice…

Switched over to a Myst-style puzzle game – wandered around a freakin cave writing down numbers for the puzzles. Except, I can’t seem to pick up any items for my inventory and I had to go online and look at a walk-thru to find that I could even flip over the blurry photos to see they had fragments of words written on them.

So, I turned off the computer and went to go read a book.

And now it’s time to get back to work…