Category: Uncategorized

1

Introduction. Why am I doing this, and how long have I been doing it?
This is year eight. Why am I doing it? Well, because it’s something that settles my brain, and gets me ready for the end of the year.
I can look back, and see what I’ve done over the past year, and maybe write a bit about other things on my mind.
In the month of writing leading up to my birthday, I was kind of spiraling. I was unemployed, poor, and trying to decide where to go next. Thankfully, I was able to find work, albeit not what I was hoping for.
But it pays the bills. Sorta.
Things really got knocked askew in May, when we were forced to move out of the place where I’d been living since 2007.
The new place is considerably smaller, but it’s also a lot more expensive. I don’t know that we’ll be staying terribly long.
I admit that I’ve not really put out my prompts for the month. I do have some of the ideas my wife helped me put together stashed aside. I also have some birthdays I’ll write about. ArmisticeVeterans’ Day. Thanksgiving.
Purportedly, Open Diary, where I wrote pretty regularly from 1999 until its closure in 2013, is returning sometime soon. I am also writing on ProseBox.
I think, though, what I’m going to do is end each entry with what I’m going to write about tomorrow.
Do you ever feel conflicted when someone you admire comes under controversy?
Maybe this weekend, I’ll get this better set up. We’ll see. On my lousy blog, my wife may be joining in on the fun.
I would write more, but today’s been incredibly long. I did get my infusion this afternoon, so by the end of the weekend, I expect my energy level to be back to peak.

06

It’s Sunday morning.
I have several prompts from which I could have chosen, but I went investigating back through old writings to find something more appealing.
That probably wasn’t a good idea; I found a bunch of the stuff I wrote while I was dealing with the eleven months in hell from 2013-2014.
what’s on tap for this week?
Monday
Dentist to get my teeth cleaned
Tuesday
TBD, but I did request an appointment with my primary doc for a wellness check, and to get prescriptions renewed.
Wednesday
Tysabri infusion, which I really need at this point.
Thursday through Saturday
TBD.
With the litany of outstanding job applications, maybe one of those days ends up being an interview.
I probably should go take care of something else, too, if I don’t get what I requested in the mail.
What do you do when someone consistently asks for your advice, but never takes it
Definitely depends on the situation/who made the request.
I tend to get information about the situation before I’ll pass judgement on the situation. There’s ways of being diplomatic about it, certainly. “Oh, that’s an interesting way of doing x. Why are you doing it that way” *listen to explanation* “Did you consider doing it (this other way)?”
I guess that sort of open-mindedness is really unappreciated by a lot of people.
Thou shalt do it this way.
Maybe that way is fucking stupid? I know; unpossible. I’m also reminded of this gem from Chicago.
We won’t get into the fact that it’s something calling itself a pizza joint in Chicago.

23

Obligatory:  Nobody likes you when you’re 23.

What are your plans for tomorrow, since it’s turkey day in the US

Morning:  Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
1300:  Lions’ Game.  I don’t remember who they’re playing.  Detroit were the first with a Thanksgiving game, adn I kinda dig that.  It’s a shame that they are only pre-merger NFL team to not even appear in a Super Bowl since the merger.  (The Cardinals and Failcons have both lost one.  The Vikings have lost four.)
1600:  Redskins at Cowboys.  Even if there was going to be snow in Dallas this year, you wouldn’t be able to see it thanks to the Jerrydome.  For everything that sucked about Texas Stadium (the weird crown in the middle of the field, the Cowbosy, their fans, etc.), at least there was some weather.  (Even if the rain was God crying about seeing how awful the Cowboys were…..)  I don’t know what to think about AT&T ((whateveritis)).  It’s big.  The screen over the middle of the field is now just tacky.  (Insert whatever snipe you’d like along the lines of, “what else would you expect in Dallas?”)

Dinner will happen somewhere in there.  It’s just my wife and I together this year.  We’ve been together ten years, married six, and this will be the first one that’s just us.  I’m letting her handle all the preparations.  Our little galley-sized kitchen doesn’t really lend itself to grand preparations.  Then there’s the fact that it’s just the two of us eating.

Other than turkey, pumpkin cheesecake, and some sort of cranberry cocktail she found, I’m not sure what’s on the menu.  She was planning some sort of roasted root vegetable medley, but couldn’t find parsnips or something.  (I think I can count on one finger the number of times I’ve knowingly eaten parsnips.  When we took my mom out for her birthday last year, the restaurant had some sort of root vegetable bisque that I ordered.  It was remarkably good.)

Later, I’m tempted not to watch the night game.  Though I’m really happy to see that there’s a game with an AFC team, I am not particularly fond of the Colts or the Stilluhrs.  (On the bright side, Roethlisberger Girl probably will have no problem finding a place to sit in Indianapolis….)  But these are two bad teams with blitz-happy gimmick 3-4 defenses.  To quote Ke$ha, “you can’t imagine the immensity of the fuck I’m not giving.”  At least the Lions aren’t terrible this year, playing someone else terrible.

But I’m ready for the long break.  The only thing I have planned for Friday is my Tysabri infusion first thing in the morning. December, too, should be rather uneventful.  I only have three visits to the white coat brigades.  My brother and SIL are supposed to visit for Christmas, now that they’re back from Texas.

I wish some of the time I have off was paid, but at least I’m no longer in the previous hellhole.

Speaking of the previous hellhole, when I left, they gave me zero exit paperwork.  The disability policy I signed up for lapsed. (I won’t say too much about how they defrauded me on it, because when I went to use it, it didn’t cover something they said it would when I signed up….)  The vision insurance lapsed, though that really wasn’t a big deal since I’d been paying for private vision insurance on top of whatever this providedl.  It was also only something like ten bucks a month.  The lack of exit paperwork saw that I didn’t get the information about rolling over my tiny 401K.

I wouldn’t have even thought about it;  I try to think as little as possible about those (negative slur)s.  I did end up thinking about it, however, when they sent me notification that they were paying me penalties and interest for an error they’d made with a company match.

Oh, y’all fucked it up?  How can I feign surprised?  Now, how do I roll over the pittance to my IRA, because there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that I’d ever work for you (negative slur)s again.

So, what happens?  They sent me a form to fill out that said I couldn’t sign electronically.  The best business practices of 1985. Even a wire transfer of the funds would cost me money.  The only free way to get my pittance takes weeks.  We’ll see when I actually get my money.

I also need to roll over my much-larger 401K from the place where I worked 2007-2013.  They switched financial services providers, and rolled all my stuff over.  Recently, they went back to the original company.  I called the original company to do a rollover, and the new, since-abandoned, company still had my account.  What?

I thought there was a chance I’d go back to work for the long-term company  at some point, but considering how long it’s been, it’s probably never happening.

Further, considering what I’ve learned since they cast me off, there’d need to be more than a bit of a sales job on it.  While they weren’t doing any of the criminal shit, themselves, I had suspicions that something untoward was going on.  I told the division manager explicitly not to hire one guy.  I didn’t know what was going on, exactly, but I was concerned about the too-close relationship between him, and someone in the government.

Both will be in Federal Pound-Me-In-The-Ass Prison for several more years.  (The guy I told them not to hire was the bagman for the quarter-million dollars worth of bribes the govvie was getting…..)

Back to Thanksgiving, though.  When I left radio, my first Thanksgiving “free” involved an extended drive to Florida in a box truck the day after the holiday.

The next year, I was actually back on the air at WNIS, filling in for someone.

That is weird;  it’ll be ten years since I was last on the air.

Seven

Write about your parents..

Kinda half-assign this one; my dad’s been gone six years next month. He spent 24 years as an Army officer. He’s now at Section 54, grave 5049 in Arlington National Cemetery.

His wife of nearly 40 years, my mother is still living. She’s living in the house they bought as he was retiring from the Army. The house is near the school where she’s worked for more than twenty years.

She left her home in south Landmass at the end of the Vietnam War to join her redirected Lieutenant husband in Japan. Before then, she’d never been east of Pensacola, or west of Houston.

For the next twenty-four years, she’d travel the globe with him, and rate his reprobate kids (the eldest one, for sure).

Today is her birthday; happy birthday, Mom. On Saturday, we’re headed to see her alma mater pay her daughter in-law’s school.

Do I have more to write about this, and her? Sure. At the same time, I’m not feeling particularly loquacious tonight. I actually almost forgot to write today after my latest medical adventure.

I did notice a few more date misalignments in my prompts. Thinking back, however, one of those might have been intentional. Regardless, tomorrow should be fun; vote for some candidates who don’t thrill me, and prep for my medical test on Wednesday.

I should probably at least start working on Wednesday’s entry tomorrow; I’ll be sedated, so I probably should finish before I leave for my appointment.

RICO

Not Suave, though.

The certification mafia is racketeering, pure and simple.

That said, I did “pass” my latest compelled purchase (of something I already held).

I am not at all amused by the whole process, or by the various four-letter companies for whom I was previously employed who should have been tracking this.

Snowy Monday

Today is a Federal holiday (thanks Presidents of the United States), so I don’t have to take leave I don’t have (thanks, MS).

Tomorrow, OTOH, and maybe Wednesday, too, are different stories.

Extra time, bad weather, and a lack of football, have provided me some time to think about a lot of things.

First, does anyone remember Apple’s Think Different campaign, which started around the time of Jobs’ return? To me, the first part of that slogan is important, operative. Maybe I’m old-fashioned that way.

Secondly, I’ve been struggling with the whole concept of “reducing customer confusion.” Somehow, that’s replacing the tired “customer value” in sales pitches. I heard it featured in an ad in a competing industry the other day. It continues in this advertiser’s spots, and it really bothers me.

Why?

I get the impression that “reducing customer confusion” is code for selling-the-customer-expensive-shit-he-doesn’t-want-or-need.

the customer is confused why you’d offer multiple price levels? So, offer fewere, and make sure the remaining offerings are more expensive!

*sigh*

Furthermore, you explicitly refrain from showing the customer what he actually does need, keeping him ignorant. You’re the expert, so whatever you recommend must be right, right?

Desire for simplicity

There’s a lot of days when I wish I could live like a normal human. I’d probably been going too hard, and my body seriously revolted against that a couple of weeks ago. As I’ve tried to get back on an even keel, I’ve struggled getting things right. Obviously, I did something wrong, because I’m out of work again, today, with muscles randomly cramping up.

But, with that, I decided not to subject myself to the unpleasantness that is work today. After the problems I had a few weeks ago, it’s better that I just not risk things when I’m having problems.

So, what to do…. Well, exciting stuff like 401K rollovers. And long for having a NetBSD environment to play around with again. This sums it up pretty well. Since 757.org went to the dark side that is loonix, I’ve been missing it.

Pfft.

What else can I do until I can get home this afternoon?