White Lightning Axiom: Redux

Mmmm, the complacency of the day in and day out of 'work'. Nothing of real note yesterday afternoon. Did take some time to set up the wireless headphones I was given for Christmas. I had a bit of difficulty at first due in part to my obvious refusal to read the directions. Come on, how hard could it be! Well, I managed to untie the Gordian knot in the various wires and such, but the volume was so faint that the static and emf interference were overpowering. I cursed the potential of yet another broken gift and cracked open the manual. A momentary wave of panic washed over me as I observed that the manual was in Spanish. This quickly evaporated as I turned the book over to find the English version counter printed. I read the whole thing and took note of the warnings about variable line out voltages and how they could 'permanently' damage the transmitter. Well, nice. I took a look at the volume controls on the PC and quickly realized why I was not able to get a decent signal ... the volume was turned all the way down. Feebleminded me. I cranked it all the way up and then proceeded to extract the remnants of my eardrums from the cubicle walls. Well, that works nicely, now I can hear the music just fine. So can everyone two cubes over.

Work should get a bit more interesting soon enough. Both of my PMs J* and C* let me know that I will be reassigned to a Linux migration project. This apparently needs to be finished by the end of February since that is when the Solaris licensing runs out. I always find it a bit of a giggler when some digithead spouts Linux as the solution to all corporate IT ills. I have not a clue as to what they want to migrate or which systems will need attention, but I'm sure that the work will be rather unexceptional (fingers crossed).

This morning went well considering the potential for freezing rain. It didn't get quite cold enough to freeze, but it was miserable enough anyways. The traffic was slow and frustrating as a matter of course. And since it is raining, people stick a vacuum pump in their ears to alleviate the pain of having coherent thought while driving. I had only two incidents of road irritation (no rage today) inspired by the oblivious actions of my automotive peers. I had barely made it out of my driveway when I encountered the first joker. He was sitting in his SUV across from the street from me waiting to cross over the intersection. I was opposite of him with my left turn signal desperately flashing away. When the north-south traffic finally abated, I pulled out into the intersection and waited for him to go straight through since he was not signaling. This genius then pulls out into the intersection and THEN turns on his left turn signal. Um, buddy, they are on your car so other people know what the hell you are doing BEFORE you do it. The second encounter happened as I neared the turnpike. This guy in a SUV (trend?) behind me did not want to have to wait in line to make a turn, so he tried cutting through a parking lot to avoid 20 or so cars in front of me. He weaved through the lot clearly marked 'Not A Drive Through' and then had to wait at the other end for an opening. Becoming frustrated that he was not cheating the system effectively, he cut off the minivan in front of me causing the operator to slam on the breaks. Brilliant. I need to get a job closer to home. Any job. As long as I can make my own hours and still make enough to pay for retirement in 40 years, the mortgage, life insurance (rip off) and the car payments. But then again, it's hard to throw away 4 weeks of vacation + 2 floating days and 1 week of sick time. I guess I'll have to stick it out.

# posted by mdmhvonpa @ 9:26 AM