June 29, 2005

Teleconfusications

We have a multi-tiered phone system at work. For inter-office calls we use our own lines or VOIP. For external calls we use Sprint. This normally works pretty well. Yesterday it did not work well.

My cube neighbor popped over and asked me if I knew what the light on the phone meant. One of the unlabeled buttons on the phone was lit up with a red light. The lights are always red when lit so the color itself wasn't a concern. What was a concern was the fact that an unknown light was lit.

I pressed the button for that light. The phone did nothing. I picked up the receiver and pressed the button. The phone display changed to "Sprint unplugged". Interesting.

My first thought was that Sprint had followed in the hallowed steps of Nirvana and other lesser rockers and released an album sans electrics and were simply taking advantage of their wide distribution of phone services to market it. Then I recalled that Sprint is a telecommunications company and not a rock band. And apparently they are a telecommunications company that only has one plug.

I hung the phone up, picked it back up and pressed a button for an outside line. The display changed to "Cannot find ARS". Now that made perfect sense. Sprint simply can't find its own ass.

Posted by: Jim at 02:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 226 words, total size 1 kb.

June 26, 2005

Educational isn't that fun.

Jim thinks he's hot stuff because he got this.

That is mere tripe. I just got these and believe you me: Monkeys in costumes, driving cars and playing golf, are a lot funnier than catchy songs and educational cartoons.

Posted by: Victor at 08:05 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 47 words, total size 1 kb.

June 24, 2005

Jim Says...

...that Kitty rocks!

I just received this fantastic little number in the mail.

Many hours of educational enjoyment lie ahead. If the kids are good I might even let them watch it.

Thanks Kitty!

Posted by: Jim at 09:52 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 38 words, total size 1 kb.

June 22, 2005

Project sex

I had two little projects. They had a lot in common and seemed like they would get along with each other really well. So, I played matchmaker and put them in a meeting room together for a couple of hours.

It's a week later now and I just assisted in the birth of a mega project.

Damn things breed faster than bunnies.

Posted by: Jim at 01:40 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 66 words, total size 1 kb.

June 14, 2005

Second verse, same as the first!

This worked so incredibly well* that I'm going to dip into the well again.

I need another round of happy thoughts, mojo, considered discourse, best wishes...hell, whatever your bag is it's wanted. Half of you can guess what it's for. Four of you know for sure what it's for. For the rest of you, rest assured it's going to a very good purpose.

* Although it did so apparently by causing a tropical storm. Hey, you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs.

Posted by: Jim at 06:25 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 96 words, total size 1 kb.

June 10, 2005

Say a little prayer

Or if prayers aren't your style you could work up a bit of mojo. Transfer some good karma? At least think some happy thoughts.

Sorry I can't tell you who it's for, what it's about or why it's needed. It's just not my story to tell. Direct it to me and I'll make sure it gets where it's going. I can assure you it's for a good cause.

Posted by: Jim at 08:39 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
Post contains 76 words, total size 1 kb.

Trifecta!

Went to return some coffee and found all three urinals full of piss! Woo hoo!

I am surrounded by scum.

In other news, it's moving day. We're heading to our new offices all of 1.2 miles down the road. In typical fashion it's a bit of a cluster fuck. There were supposed to be functional servers over there this morning so the people who planned ahead and obeyed the order to disconnect all computers before COB yesterday would be able to work from the new office.

Not.

So I'm back at the old place listening to 100 people packing up their shit instead of working in quiet solitude. Bah.

Posted by: Jim at 08:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 111 words, total size 1 kb.

June 09, 2005

People Eating Tasty Animals

Our last grilling session:


(Click for big size)

By "last" I mean "most recent" of course. We're full on into grilling season now so this is a fairly common occurence.

The burgers you see there aren't just any old hamburgers - they're Jimmy Burgers™, my world famous recipe. I'd be happy to share the ingredients with you but then I'd have to kill you.

No, wait. It's the recipe for my chili con carne I'd have to kill you for. I'm free to share this recipe. Except that I can't. Because there isn't one.

The actual ingredients of the Jimmy Burger™ vary widely depending on my mood, relative sobriety and what's in the kitchen.

Burgers aren't a science, y'all. They're an art form.

Getting hungry Bou?

Posted by: Jim at 03:37 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 134 words, total size 1 kb.

June 07, 2005

Washington in brief

The Available Time Fairy has yet to make an appearance, precluding my writing up fantastically amusing anecdotes for your amusement. Instead, I'll give you a relatively dry bullet point presentation of the trip. Hey, I'm in project management now. This is how it's done.

  • Da plane! - Had an excellent trip. All three boys behaved like angels for the entire 12 hours of travel. Lovely Wife and I kept waiting for the bomb to drop but it never arrived. It must have been using a French targeting system.
  • Airport - They've got the cutest little airport in Spokane! I wanted to just put it in my pocket and take it home with me. It's an International airport because they fly to California.
  • "Spokane" - They pronounce it all funny. It should be "spo-cane", right? Nope, they pronounce it "spo-can". I kept pronouncing it the right way and anytime a local looked at me like I was a tourist I told them if they want to pronounce it "spo-can" then they had to get rid of the "e" at the end.
  • more...

    Posted by: Jim at 01:13 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
    Post contains 1495 words, total size 9 kb.

June 01, 2005

Can you flunk a meme?

Oh, Rob. You poor, misguided man. I gave up on music a decade ago. I listen to talk radio in the car. I'm possibly the worst person in the blogosphere to be tagged with this meme. Regardless, I shall endeavor to rise to the occasion and hope that my answers don't inordinately degrade my cool status.

Total volume of music files on my computer:

Zero. Nada. Nil. I have no music files on my computer. I should win some sort of prize for this.

The last CD I bought was:

Ray, the soundtrack from the movie of the same name. I bought it during my Spokane trip. The rental truck had a kick-ass stereo system but I couldn't find any station with acceptable background music. Talk radio was out as I was always with passengers. Thusly, Ray was acquired.

Song playing right now:

None. Nothing. The extended version of 4'33". It's not because I'm at work, either. The only time I hear music is if Lovely Wife puts some on.

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

Someone to Watch Over Me by George Gershwin. Played for Lovely Wife and I by the strolling violinist at The Friar's Table whilst we celebrated our first wedding anniversary.

Georgia On My Mind by Ray Charles. The reason for the above noted CD purchase. This song is gorgeous. The Ray soundtrack has two versions, one studio and one live. You can hear Ray Charles alternately smiling and crying during the live version. Breathtaking.

Speaking of Ray Charles, did you get a look at that new grand piano he's using now? No? Neither did he.

Back in Black by AC/DC. This was the first song I heard after boot camp. It was like emerging from a dark room into blinding light. Any time I hear it now I get an emotional lift. Plus, AC/DC just plain out kicks ass.

Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This song puts me in a happy place. I guess it's just part of being a voluntary southerner.

No Woman, No Cry by Bob Marley. Everything gonna be all right.

Five people to whom IÂ’m passing the musical baton: I need to make up for a couple of lousy answers so I'm going to pass this to six people: the inestimable Snooze Crew™!

Posted by: Jim at 12:02 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 401 words, total size 3 kb.

<< Page 1 of 1 >>
59kb generated in CPU 0.0191, elapsed 0.031 seconds.
29 queries taking 0.018 seconds, 121 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.