Possible problem with the new house (which is still going pretty smoothly and still scheduled for closing on the 22nd but our broker said don't count that day as gospel cause it could be a day or two later and why did we bother specifying an exact date on the legal documents if it's subject to change based on stuff we have no control over anyway but that's not what this post is about so I'll drop it for now). The current air conditioner isn't the original air conditioner. That's not a problem at all. Newer is generally better and in this case it's a very nice air conditioner. The problem is that the original fuse and breaker are 40 amps and they weren't changed when this new unit was put in. This unit is rated at 30 amps. More modern, more efficient, pulls less juice.

Is this a problem? We made changing out the breaker for a 30 amp breaker one of our requirements but the sellers have been advised that it's a no-use change (no reason to do it, in other words) so they don't want to do it.

Is there a real problem if the cutouts are rated at 40 amps and the unit is rated at 30 amps?

Posted by: Jim at 11:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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It was a bit too sweet and the hot fudge was too runny.

Actually I really did have one. I'll clue y'all in later after I flesh it out and talk to Lovely Wife about it.

Posted by: Jim at 07:19 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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There are a lot of sucky things about job hunting. One of the suckiest is that you have to give at least a cursory examination to all of your email. Even the ones that SpamBayes absolutely guarantees are spam. I know that SpamBayes is 99%+ efficient but if I miss a chance at Ultimajob because their HR guy uses too much marketspeak and SpamBayes equates his missive with a cia|is mailing and I didn't catch it before deleting it I would be seriously pissed. No, wait a sec. I wouldn't be pissed because I wouldn't actually know about it if I didn't catch it.

Ah, hell. You know what I mean - I don't want to miss anything and as a person looking at a lack of employment I'm motivated enough to do something that I haven't done in months - read the Subjects of a hundred or so porn and drug spams on a daily basis.

On the plus side I got a genuine giggle out of this one from Grover Oneill (no apostrophe please, thank you very much): The Beeeeeest Lubeeeee For Your Johnsooooooon.

Hehehehe. Now I can't stop thinking about my Johnsoooooooon and what the Beeeeeest Lubeeeee for it might be.

Hehehe - Lubeeeeeee. That's a winner.

Posted by: Jim at 07:15 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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I took today off. Filled out many, many online resume thingys. Many. My eyes are buggy.

We're still waiting to hear back about our list of things that need to be repaired by the sellers at the new house. It's been a couple of days. We're getting irritated. Grml brgl rmnl*

*That's sort of like the "robble robble" of Hamburglar fame.

Posted by: Jim at 04:09 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 Hope something turns out for you!

Posted by: Lawren at June 11, 2004 04:19 PM (Gqz1r)

2 Don't forget to feed the Monster too. I got lots of hits from Monster...

Posted by: Clancy at June 11, 2004 04:21 PM (EGVPL)

3 Thanks Lawren. The Monster has been fed. A voracious beast it is, too.

Posted by: Jim at June 11, 2004 06:21 PM (IOwam)

4 Fingers crossed - after all they worked for H so why not you too!

Posted by: Rob at June 14, 2004 06:15 AM (kXZI6)

5 Thanks Rob. All good mojo is gratefully accepted.

Posted by: Jim at June 14, 2004 07:17 AM (IOwam)

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The inspection went well, more on that later. First we talk about the purchase. There's been a bit of back and forth regarding when the sellers will vacate. Last night featured the signing of the latest (and last, please Lord?) version of the purchase/sale agreement. The biggest change is that we'll close on the 22nd instead of the 23rd and they'll vacate by the 26th (Saturday) instead of the 28th (Monday). Pretty cool, eh? We get the house for the weekend move instead of taking multiple weekdays off.

And get this - it was their change! Yeah, Lovely Wife wanted to give them time to move out so originally offered 10 days between the closing and boot-out dates. Our House Lady shortened that up a bit and then the sellers themselves shortened it up more. Fan-freaking-tastic! Why in the world wouldn't they want the option to stay longer just in case? Don't know, not going to worry about it.

Back to the inspection. Earl was awesome. Talk about thorough. He showed me parts of a house that I didn't know existed. Old timers here may recall that I used to help build houses. Yeah, Earl was good. To make matters even better, he had that fantastic central Georgia drawl that just oozes confidence about construction knowledge and other things of a manly nature (inclusive of coon dawgs and NASCAR). He also looks like a slightly older Sam Neill and if you can't rely on Dr.Grant then who can you rely on?

The inspection turned up a couple of things. He found everything that we had noted, everything that the sellers had disclosed and a few more. Nothing big, which is very cool. There's a condensation line from the air conditioning that stops at the foundation - that needs to run a few feet away from the foundation. A couple bushes need trimming to give proper clearances. Ground cover needs to be cut back away from vents. An outlet cover is missing in the main bath. The crawl space under the house needs a moisture barrier put down. Windows are painted shut. Little stuff like that.

No major items, nothing that the sellers should balk at fixing before the sale. Can I get a "boo-ya!"?

Posted by: Jim at 11:08 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Howz about a "Yee Haw!!!"

Posted by: Claire at June 08, 2004 11:17 AM (l1oyw)

2 Yee Haw's work just as well. Thanks Claire!

Posted by: Jim at June 08, 2004 11:21 AM (IOwam)

3 I'm in my second house now. I hated this part of the process both times. Congratulations.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at June 09, 2004 12:05 AM (4819r)

4 We have one week to go. Aside from a home insurance agent (actually, his secretary) who was a complete PITA, our process has gone so smoothly it's actually scary. (I probably just jinxed myself.) I hope your process goes as smoothly...

Posted by: Clancy at June 09, 2004 07:58 AM (EGVPL)

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In about an hour I'll be going to the new house to run through it with the inspector. Almost $300 and it'll be about three hours. Yeah, I know that this doesn't really mean I'm paying him $100 an hour but boy does it feel like it at the moment!

Oh, wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. The last thing y'all knew was that I was expecting House Lady on Friday morning. She did indeed show up and we filled out many copies of the agreement to purchase. Then on Saturday we didn't hear that the sellers had signed. On Sunday we found out why - they had another exclusion in a newer version saying that they were keeping some shelves from over the front window. You needed to hold up my contract for this? Sheesh.

They were also concerned that they might get labeled for massive heating system repairs. That's warranty stuff, we just want the unit serviced with regular maintenance so we don't have to do it this year. That's straightened out now, fortunately.

So now we've got the inspection tonight and hopefully pick up our copies of the finalized agreement. Continue crossing fingers, but you don't have to squeeze as hard now. ;-)

Posted by: Jim at 03:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've uploaded the preliminary version of my resume. If anybody would be so kind as to take a peek at it and give some feedback I'd be grateful. Be as critical as you can - the better this gets, the better my chance of finding a job.

What's missing? What's superfluous? How's the formatting? Pleasing to the eye? Short enough? Too long? Lemme know.

This is in MS Word format. If you need it in a different format I'd be happy to oblige, just email me and I'll send it right to you.

Posted by: Jim at 03:02 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Thank you to everybody who's sent sympathy about the job loss. We really appreciate it.

House lady will be here in about two hours to sign the papers. We're going to buy the house anyway.

I'm much loved at work, so much so that they're keeping me in a job until the end of July. I'm confident that I'll be able to find something decent within two months. If I only find a middling job we have options - there is a lot of fat in our current budget. High speed Internet, cable with all the trimmings, private school for the little guys, stay at home Mom for the little guys. There's actually enough fat for us to get by just fine with me on unemployment. In short, it's not an absolute requirement that I be the single bread winner with a big salary. That's the ideal situation, but it's not the only possibility. It might be a bit risky to go ahead with the house purchase but it's only a little risk.

Also, if worse comes to worse, it's way harder to kick a family out of a house than it is to evict them from an apartment.

Posted by: Jim at 08:15 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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But not really that much. Cause things are not as bad on second look as they are on first look.

Still, I could use a good smoke. Y'all suck for keeping me honest.

Posted by: Jim at 10:55 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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We got the house. Yay! The sellers agreed to our last counter offer and we're supposed to sign a binding contract tomorrow morning.

I lost my job. Boo! They're eliminating my Quality Assurance and adding another Programmer. I don't program in ProvideX so...bye bye Jim.

Got a lot to think about before tomorrow morning.

Posted by: Jim at 07:12 PM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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1 ugh. Sorry to hear that - Nothing like the old 'thanks for all the hard work you've put in for the company - now get out'. I hope the Job Market is ok there, or the old credit score is likely to take a hit. On the upside, now you can focus on the kids, campaigning, and writing more.

Posted by: MojoMark at June 03, 2004 08:14 PM (E+LQu)

2 WTF...sorry to hear about the job. Yes - you have an issue!! I am very risk adverse , even though I work on Wall Street , so I'd say wait on new house - especially because I hear those carports are expensive $$$! Also it is tough, and costly, to get a mortgage if you are not employed (although maybe you will able to get the loan committment before your job actually goes away.) Anyway - I am probably not helping much - but I am thinking about you - good luck

Posted by: jimi at June 03, 2004 08:20 PM (lN8eP)

3 So sorry to hear that, Jim. But I'm a firm believer that things have a way of working out for the best. I'll cross all my fingers and toes for you to find an even better job soon.

Posted by: Jennifer at June 03, 2004 09:23 PM (kASx1)

4 As someone who was NOT in an especially skilled job and who spent most of 2001/2002 in and out of temp jobs -- things REALLY DO end up working out for the best. In the meantime, if you need someone to rant to, you have my e-mail address. Right? Hang in there, honeybun. My love to the lovely wife and kidlets.

Posted by: Emma at June 04, 2004 03:42 AM (NOZuy)

5 Damn, Jim, I'm real sorry to hear that. You're a smart guy. You'll land on your feet, I'm sure. It's just the uncertainty of the moment that sucks. Have another beer - It's friday now anyway...

Posted by: Clancy at June 04, 2004 08:35 AM (EGVPL)

6 What they said. I'm not worried about whether you'll be back up to speed in a heartbeat. You're just that good.

Posted by: Harvey at June 04, 2004 01:28 PM (tJfh1)

7 Oh fucking HELL Jim, I'm so sorry. You loved that job! I can't believe it never crossed their minds to simply teach you the programming language. You strike me as the sort who could pick that skill up in a jiffy.

Posted by: ilyka at June 04, 2004 05:13 PM (T/vdN)

8 Tough decision. I'd hold off or try to postpone, too. A mortgage is scary enough without the new situation you're in. Job-hunting with a mortgage hanging over your head can be done but it sucks. AllTheBest, Rob

Posted by: Rob at June 05, 2004 01:05 AM (uq+fR)

9 Sending you job finding prayers. We've been there and I know how it feels. We kind of need job finding prayers now ourselves; my dh does have a job, but pay doesn't equal expenses. Hope you find a good job soon.

Posted by: Rachel Ann at June 06, 2004 12:15 PM (mdQgD)

10 Jim, I feel your pain. I've been bouncing around trying to find perm work for over 2yrs. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Posted by: Lachlan at June 06, 2004 05:29 PM (OW2tD)

11 Here I am, days late and a few cents short, but I'm sending you a virtual hug {Jim} and wishes for an even better job...

Posted by: Susie at June 06, 2004 05:39 PM (tEteH)

12 I am extremely sorry to hear about the job, while delighted to hear about the house. I'm really feeling conflicted here. Why not harness the power of the blogosphere to see if you can find something else?? Tell us what you're looking for and we'll get the ball rolling.

Posted by: Simon at June 07, 2004 01:15 AM (UKqGy)

13 All y'all - Thank you so much for the words of support. It means a lot to me to know that there are so many people out there pulling for me. MojoMark - Unfortunately, the new job search is going to trump all three of those. Bummer. jimi - I'm in a job until the end of July so the mortgage isn't going to be a problem. Jen - Thanks, I'll see what I can do to get your digits uncrossed asap. ;-) Emma - No need to rant (yet), but I've got you on speed dial. Clancy - That was good advice that I was happy to follow. Nate - The job hunt is starting now and is going to go through the closing on the 23rd and the move. Should be interesting to see if I turn into a stress puppy! Harvey - Damn straight! Thanks for the vote of confidence. Ilyka - I probably could pick it up with little problem (how hard can business BASIC be after all) but they want somebody with grand programming experience for the new position. Rob - That was my first inclination but the numbers worked out much better for getting the house. There are some serious benefits to getting a VA loan. Rachel Ann - Thanks and best of luck on your own search. Lachlan - I'll definitely let y'all know how the search is going. Susie - Late's fine, that's why we have archive pages. ;-) Simon - I'm going to try to do just that, starting with getting some help finalizing my resume later today.

Posted by: Jim at June 07, 2004 05:44 AM (saeHM)

14 If its any consolation, my company is hiring QA people to its staff...

Posted by: pylorns at June 07, 2004 09:50 AM (FTYER)

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House Lady came over last night with the counter offer and we put together a counter-counter offer. The whole thing so far has sort of been like this:

Us: We'll give you 3 grand more than you're asking for but we want about 13 grand (for a relative lowball figure of about 10 grand) in concessions, kickbacks, closing costs, etceteras. We want your refrigerator, washer, dryer, trampoline and pets too. You can keep your kids.

Them: That's mighty white of you. How about "No"? Let's clarify a thing or two, here's a better way to fix this and that and altogether this gets your lowball to around 4 grand. We're keeping the trampoline and the pets. The kids are negotiable.

Us: Those changes are mostly acceptable only your legalese on this one is a bit off so we're correcting it and we'll go ahead and specify a couple of things that were generalized before. The lowball is about 5 grand and that's really where we need to stay. We really don't want your kids.

Hopefully we'll have a binding contract this evening. Your finger crossings are working wonders!

Posted by: Jim at 10:24 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The sellers didn't accept our offer. A couple of the things we want were based on the wrong info so it's not too surprising. See, we didn't have a copy of their Seller's Disclosure (this is the form where they say how old everything is and what is included in the house purchase) when we made our offer. House Lady had an unofficial one that Mister Seller had whipped up really quickly but there were errors on it. The biggest error was for the HVAC system. The unofficial Seller's Disclosure said that the HVAC was 17 years old and the water heater was 7. Part of our offer included a replacement HVAC. Turns out the HVAC is 7 and the water heater is 17. No need for a new HVAC.

So, we're now waiting for their counter-offer with the HVAC replacement part removed, hopefully a water heater replacement added, and assorted other niggling changes. Hopefully we'll get it today and hopefully it'll come complete with a genuine Seller's Disclosure. Then we'll put together a counter-counter offer!

Have I told y'all about House Lady yet? No, I don't think I have. She's...motivated. She talks too fast, too. Like somebody from Maryland. On crack. We've been in Georgia for over three years - we can't listen that fast any more. But like I said, she's motivated. That first evening that she came over for house surfing said a lot. She went through the realtor listings with us. The actual realtor listings with all of the super secret house information that lowly buyers aren't supposed to have access to. She also left with her Realty/Company accoung logged in. Not that it mattered since she didn't really hide her password (slightly easier to remember than '1-2-3-4').

We've spent a bit of time cruising around the Realty/Company database, by the way. We can't help it. I'm naturally curious and Lovely Wife is female. No way we could leave that alone. I'll just say that they could definitely use some new programmers, at least one of whom understands the concepts of crafting a user interface.

So to summarize, waiting on a counter offer, probably will lead to a corrected offer. Still working the same (very cool) house. Continue to cross fingers, please.

UPDATE

Just found out that they're supposed to be getting together with their agent this evening to craft the counterproposal. They're not happy with our earnest money. For those of you who haven't purchased a house before, earnest money is sort of like a deposit. It's the money you'll be out if you change your mind at the last minute and stick it to the seller. We don't have a whole lot of earnest money - we're credit rich and cash poor as they say. Apparently the buyers are concerned that we might not be serious about buying the house because we've put in about as much earnest money as a speculator might.

I'm getting the feeling that brokers and agents just get in the way and that if we could sit down with those folks face to face we'd have this whole thing wrapped up in a half hour or so.

Posted by: Jim at 11:09 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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It's quite intense and very expensive and it hopefully won't last very long. Ryan was into it. So was Clancy. Michele almost had multiple strokes doing it. Yup, I'm talking about home buying.

On Friday we got our preapproved mortgage and the House Lady came over the very same night so we could surf for houses. We identified a short dozen that we liked and House Lady and Lovely Wife planned on looking at them the next day. In a couple hours. Can you say "stressful shopping"?

Fortunately we managed to eliminate half of them so the tour de houses was actually possible in the time frame allowed on Saturday. Four of the houses visited were eliminated. That left two. On Sunday the boys and I joined Lovely Wife and the House Lady to see those two and two others that sort of surfaced while we were out. Both of the ones that popped up were quickly eliminated. Both of the ones that Lovely Wife had pre-scoped for us were very cool.

They each had their advantages. The one was closer to Dopple-G (important for commuting). The other had a workshop (important for manly beer drinking while using power tools). The one had a fenced back yard (we've got two dogs and three kids) and a sun room. The other had a mostly fenced back yard and a den. The one had a nicely sized eat-in kitchen. The other had a bedroom right off of the kitchen. What's up with that? The one had a big two-car sized carport. The other still had that workshop, and a nice dry crawlspace under the house. The one had a magnificent magnolia tree. The other...um...hardwood floors! Yeah, that's it. The one had landscaping and was on a cul-de-sac. The other was right on a major road and had lots and lots of things to mow around.

We put in an offer on the one house. We'll hear back by 8 o'clock tonight.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Posted by: Jim at 11:13 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I was watching "Humanimals: Wild Makeovers" on Discovery Health over the weekend. This is a show about extreme body modification. Things like facial tattoos, implants, split tongues and other such things. They profiled several people who've gone to various levels of body modification. Two were relatively minor - the reptile man has the tattoo of lizard scales all over his body (face and head included) plus a split tongue. The cat girl was similarly adorned with tiger stripe tattoos.

The other two were quite a bit more severe. Cat man had the tattoos as well as a surgically cleft lip (yeah, the thing that people pay money to fix in their kids so they can talk normally), sharpened teeth, whisker implants, cheek implants, 4 inch long finger nails and cat eye contacts. Enigma has the tattoo of a jigsaw puzzle over his entire body with blue tattooed over his face and hands. Oh, he has horns implanted too. more...

Posted by: Jim at 10:54 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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You know how at the end of every commercial that contains a promo there's the little speech by the guy who talks too fast to understand? So that the commercial for BRAND NEW FORD TRUCKS FIFTY-NINE DOLLARS DOWN FIFTY-NINE DOLLARS A MONTH FIVE THOUSAND MINIMUM ON YOUR TRADE-IN PUSH PULL OR DRAG IT IN BAD CREDIT NO CREDIT BANKRUPTCY WE DON'T CARE WE'LL FINANCE YOU OR MAY SATAN DRIVE A RED HOT POKER UP OUR POOP CHUTE AND LET MICHAEL MOORE TICKLE OUR BALLS might be followed with some-restrictions-may-apply-offer-not-valid-in-contiguous-forty-eight-states-alaska-hawaii-or-any-protectorate-or-territory-of-the-united-states-the-term-brand-new-describes-models-from-nineteen-twenty-or-later-the-term-fifty-nine-dollars-is-nineteen-twenty-equivalent-dollars-equaling-current-amount-of-six-hundred-fifty-nine-dollars-and-seventy-four-cents-we-are-under-no-obligation-to-finance-your-broke-ass-or-give-you-anything-for-that-piece-of-shit-you-are-driving-satan-and-michael-moore-can-both-lick-our-ballsweat or something remarkably similar.

Well last night I saw an ad for Heineken and they're giving away music, sort of how Pepsi did it recently. Code or whatever is in the box, go to Real and get a free tune. Mister Talks Too Fast mentioned something about "two free in every twelve pack" and then "no purchase necessary to win". I immediately thought "Bingo! Free beer!" Go and point out their gaff and demand some free twelve packs, right? Well as you can imagine I was sorely disappointed in that effort. I did however find out how to get the tunes without buying the beer. In retribution for so cruelly crushing my hopes I want each and every one of you to follow these instructions and get some free music. I want an Instalanche and whatever other 'lanches I can get. Spread the word, share the glory. Pay these monsters back for teasing me by getting free music and making them pay for it. Join the new revolution!

TO RECEIVE YOUR UNIQUE PIN CODE WITHOUT BEER PURCHASE (good for 2 downloads except in PA where 2 PIN codes will be supplied for a total of 4 downloads), send a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a 3x5 card with your name, complete address including zip code (no P.O. Boxes), daytime telephone number with area code and date of birth to Heineken Music Download Offer, P.O. Box 7430, Wilton, CT 06897-7430. Requests must be postmarked no later than 7/30/04 and received no later than 8/6/04. Limit one PIN code request per envelope, individual, household, family or address. Neither Sponsor nor RealNetworks are responsible for lost, illegible, incomplete, late, postage-due or misdirected mail. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery of PIN code without beer purchase. Delivery cannot be guaranteed unless you include a zip code. No P.O. Boxes accepted.

Attention Heineken: I'll call off the attack dogs if you send me a coupon for a free 12 pack.

Posted by: Jim at 09:32 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Warning: This post is

It wasn't intentional but every post so far today has held a dig on France's favorite so I might as well go with the flow.

Here's one from Rachel Lucas that tickles me. She's designed the Orca (tm) Michael Moore range target (full size version available at her place).

What Moorisms do you have? Trackback or link it in the comments here. Or just spout off in the comments here. Openly vitriolic comments encouraged. I'll start you off with some humor:

Q: How many Michael Moores does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: None. That fat fuck wouldn't have a clue how to do something constructive that would actually reveal things that are in darkness. And what's with suggesting that there could be more than one Michael Moore? You sick bastard.

UPDATE: Claire has the scoop on Mikey's eveningwear. Monitor/liquids warning for this one.

* Title corrected. As LeeAnn notes in the comments, nobody in their right mind would fuck Michael Moore.

Posted by: Jim at 08:18 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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My PC died right after opening the day for Michael Moore bashing. That greaseball somehow sabotaged me.

Anyway, I'm going to be generally incommunicado as far as email goes as the computer I'm on now is (besides being in the middle of the training room as part of the class that I am currently attending) lacking in any communications capabilities. On the plus side I can now fake a phone outage and completely ignore everybody in the building when I get back to my desk.

Can anybody explain to me why it is that you can get a warning from SmartDisk that your drive is failing but Dell still won't replace it until it actually dies? And why is it that corporate admins refuse to just buy another damned hard drive when the customer service contract that they have with Dell proves to be foolishly lacking in common sense? I just happen to be in class today but I can guarantee that Dell won't have a replacement hard drive in my machine by Monday morning. Maybe sometime on Monday it'll get here and the machine will be loaded with software by the end of business. I'll spend the entirety of Tuesday setting it up for me.

That's two days of lost me. How much does a new hard drive cost compared to two days of my salary? How about losing two days from an already compressed production schedule? I really hate stupidity.

Posted by: Jim at 10:41 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I've finally found the perfect gift for him. And under $20 too!

The “Mind Molester” produces a one-second electronic chirp about once every 4 minutes. Due to the chirp’s duration, frequency, and sound characteristics, it’s a very, very difficult, time-consuming, frustrating and maddening task to locate the unit. And even if they find it, they’ll have no idea what it is. The number of effective locations to plant the “Mind Molester” is limited only by your imagination. Of course, this device is for use on deserving subjects only.

I wonder if there's a discount for bulk purchases...

(Hat tip to Dopple-G)

Posted by: Jim at 07:59 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Charter sucks. That's our cable company. If you're in the market for video on demand that cuts out constantly or high speed access that's as reliable as AOL was in the olden days then Charter is the company for you.

We lost our internet access on Friday. A call to tech support could not fix the problem - a service call to replace the cable modem was to be made on Saturday. Saturday came and went with no call from the friendly Charter technicians. We were at a graduation party for the latter half of the day so did not contact Charter about it again until Sunday.

Yesterday morning (bright and early riser that I am) I called Charter again. Where the hell was my new modem? Well sir, that service call was changed because when the trouble ticket was reviewed they noted a couple more things to try. But nobody called us to try them. Wankers.

Completely erasing the modem's configuration file and downloading a new one actually got the modem working again. I was happy.

Until noon. That's when the modem failed again. No more service. A call to Charter determined that a new modem really was needed but not to worry, it would be there before the end of the day. Do I really need to say what (didn't) happen next?

Okay, for the record then...no new cable modem arrived. Another call to Charter let me know that the service call bringing the new modem on Sunday was rescheduled to first thing Monday morning. Again nobody had called the customer. They rescheduled an appointment without telling one half of the people involved in said appointment.

This now qualifies them as fucknuts.

They are supposed to contact my Lovely Wife first thing this morning to arrange a time to bring the new modem. I am not holding my breath.

Fucking monopolies fucking suck.

Posted by: Jim at 08:26 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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The latest in a long line of inanity:

Vision is the art of seeing things not visible.

I could be kind and say that I understand what the author was going for here. He wants to say that being able to recognize possibilities is what being a visionary is all about. But I'm not kind to people who obscure their meanings behind foolish pedantry so I'm calling "bullshit" here.

The premise itself is bunk. These sayings are supposed to be supportive or indicative of successful business culture. In business you do have true visionaries - they are the guys in the white coats down in the lab who tinker with doodads, gizmos and whatsits. They are markedly different from the people with corporate vision who assign budgets, verify cost and yield figures and do market analysis for the new product lines.

The real success of a business is not in seeing possibilities but in recognizing probabilities. In other words it is much more important to see what's directly in front of your face. Steve Wozniak was a visionary. Bill Gates had corporate vision.

Posted by: Jim at 11:24 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 "Vision is the art of seeing things not visible" It was written by someone who is an indirect person.

Posted by: pylorns at May 13, 2004 11:55 AM (FTYER)

2 Seeing things not visible is, I believe, called hallucinating...

Posted by: Susie at May 13, 2004 03:28 PM (xxMEB)

3 Bill Gates had corporate vision... and an inate abilty to pinch the ideas of visionarys!

Posted by: Rob at May 13, 2004 06:01 PM (BWDMP)

4 See? Rob understands the difference!

Posted by: Jim at May 13, 2004 07:07 PM (saeHM)

5 Vision isn't even art.

Posted by: Trey Givens at May 14, 2004 01:10 PM (JmLrk)

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