Domestic Geek

I just received my ThinkGeek newsletter. I totally forgot that they have a monthly Techie Haiku Contest where you can win a $50 ThinkGeek gift certificate.

I want ThinkGeek stuff
Must think of a cool haiku
My brain is so fried

heh.

Anyway, if I won, I'd get myself a myself a Cubes IT department playset. It would be like having my very own Marcus action figure! Of course, I'd have to fashion an Apple hat for him.

Well, I'm still awake and it's almost 10. Argh! I forgot to change my EE setting to reflect the stupid DST. I'm writing this as a note to myself to change the times tomorrow.

I know I bitch and moan about this every year, but I hate screwing around with the time. Pair moving the time change up three weeks with my period hitting (which always physically drains me) and I've been a mess all week. I'm exhausted but my body won't go to sleep earlier, either. How lame is that? It's a good thing I was doing mindless type of tasks at work today or I could've royally screwed something up. Plus, like I said earlier, it was 74°F this afternoon, so I caught a little bit of spring fever to boot. I hope I can get to sleep at a decent hour tonight.

Well, I'd better quit blabbing and go make dinner.

Our company pays a yearly subscription fee to an online prepress training organization. I knew it was time for them to renew the subscription for the service, but I didn't give it much thought. I had checked out the site for myself and had wished I had $300 so that I could learn it on my own. Well, last Friday I was given my very own login. Woohoo!

I've been signed up for 23 courses:

• Adobe Acrobat 7
• Adobe Bridge
• Adobe Illustrator CS2: What's New
• Adobe Illustrator CS: Drawing, Tools, and Text
• Adobe Illustrator CS: Layers, Advanced Features and Output
• Adobe InDesign CS2: What's New
• Adobe InDesign CS: Master Pages, Colors and Images
• Adobe InDesign CS: Objects, Shapes and Lines
• Adobe InDesign CS: PageMaker Plugin Pack
• Adobe InDesign CS: Template and Workspace Preferences
• Adobe InDesign CS: Text, Formatting and Output
• Adobe Photoshop CS2: Color Correction
• Adobe Photoshop CS2: Masking
• Adobe Photoshop CS2: What's New
• Adobe Photoshop CS: Fundamentals
• Color Management Theory
• Creo Preps 5
• Enfocus PitStop Professional 6
• FlightCheck 5.5
• Mac OSX Panther: Font Management with Suitcase X1
• QuarkXPress 6: Fundamentals
• Transitioning from Quark to InDesign CS2
• Troubleshooting Digital Files

I've already passed two of them. I decided to get the Illustrator and Suitcase ones out of the way first since I know the most about those. Next I'm tackling Acrobat, Pitstop and Flightcheck, since those are the programs I use the most during my current duties. When I get through these, I've been told there are more than I can do. Hopefully this is my chance to really show I can get this stuff and start training as an operator.

Edit: Here, I took a screenshot of my class list. Aren't those little diploma graphics the cutest when you pass a class?

Ten of My Favorite Albums

Dark Side of the Moon — Pink Floyd Xanadu Soundtrack — Olivia Newton John & ELO Purple Rain — Prince Antics in the Forbidden Zone — Adam Ant * Changesbowie — David Bowie*

Cabaret Soundtrack — Liza Minelli Classic Queen — Queen* Hooray for Boobies — Bloodhound Gang Countdown to Extinction — Megadeth Van Halen — 1984

*denotes a greatest hits album

There are just waaaaay too many albums that I absolutely love covering a wide spectrum of music. I tried to pick some of those that I play most often.