Thursday, November 29, 2001

Thu
29
Nov
2001

Gloomy

Current mood: ?gloomy
I hate cold, dreary weather. It makes me want to crawl into bed and stay there all day. It's even a major effort just to put this post in the old blog. I'm in a "feeling sorry for myself" type of mode. School's done, work sucks, I'm boke with Christmas coming fast, I'm feeling rather inadequate. I know I need to find a new job, I'm just dreading the process of finding it. I know there is a recession and a lot of good people are not finding work. I'm not feeling confident about knowing anything I supposedly learned from that stupid school. I've got to get over this fear I have and just move on. I think I need a vacation......

Monday, November 26, 2001

Mon
26
Nov
2001

Floppy Disk Care

As seen in the Lockergnome Techspecialist 11/23 newsletter:

(Im)Proper Care of Floppy Diskettes
  1. Never leave diskettes in the disk drive, as data can leak out of the disk and corrode the inner mechanics of the drive. Diskettes should be rolled up and stored in pencil holders.
  2. Diskettes should be cleaned and waxed once a week. Microscopic metal particles can be removed by waving a powerful magnet over the surface of the disk. Any stubborn metallic shavings can be removed with scouring powder and soap. When waxing the diskettes, make sure the surface is even. This will allow the diskette to spin faster, resulting in better access time.
  3. Do not fold diskettes unless they do not fit into the drive. "Big" diskettes may be folded and used in "little" disk drives.
  4. Never insert a diskette into the drive upside down. The data can fall off the surface of the disk and jam the intricate mechanics of the drive.
  5. Diskettes cannot be backed up by running them through the Xerox machine. If your data is going to need to be backed up, simply insert two diskettes into the drive. Whenever you update a document, the data will be written on both diskettes.
  6. Diskettes should not be inserted or removed from the drive while the red light is flashing. Doing so could result in smeared or possibly unreadable text. Occasionally the red light remains flashing in what is known as a "hung" or "hooked" state. If your system is "hooking" you will probably need to insert a few coins before being allowed access to the slot.
  7. If your diskette is full and you need more storage space, remove the disk from the drive and shake vigorously for 2 minutes. This will pack the data enough (Data Compression) to allow for more storage. Be sure to cover all the openings with scotch tape to prevent loss data.
  8. Access time can be greatly improved by cutting more holes in the diskette jacket. This will provide more simultaneous access points to the disk.
  9. Diskettes may be used as coasters for beverage glasses, provided that they are properly waxed beforehand. Be sure to wipe the diskettes dry before using. (see item 2 above)
  10. Never use scissors and glue to manually edit documents. The data is stored much too small for the naked eye, and you may end up with data from some other document stuck in the middle of your document. Razor blades and scotch tape may be used, however, provided the user is equipped with an electron microscope.
  11. Periodically spray diskettes with insecticide to prevent system bugs from spreading.
Mon
26
Nov
2001

Let It Snow

Current mood: ?cold cold
The car is under the snow somewhere!

It snowed last night! It's also really, really cold. Brrrrr! It's 21°F at Buckley Air Force Base, according to weather.com, 11°F with the wind chill. Since we're out here on the eastern plains, it's probably way colder than that. Now, though, I can finally get in the holiday spirit. It just doesn't feel like Christmas is near when it is 60°F and higher on a daily basis. The nice thing was, I didn't have to go to town today. I never luck out like this. I haven't had a day where I had nothing to do since Labor Day. I've been being a couch potato all day long. I did have to clean the car off and toodle over the the bank, but that was it. Poor Marcus had to drive in this morning, though. I felt really bad for him. He's still not feeling up to snuff, but he didn't want to miss work.

Poor Skipper didn't like being out there very long. He froze his little feet off. Even Ursa, who loves the snow, didn't even stay outside long enough to get a picture of her. Well, back to the couch.
Skippy in the snow!

Sunday, November 25, 2001

Sun
25
Nov
2001

Scrooge’s Brother

HAPPY *BLEEP*ING HOLIDAYS!

As if I don't have enough reasons to hate my job, the following sign was posted on the bulletin board at one of the stores:

Happy F*cking Holidays!

Thursday, November 22, 2001

Thu
22
Nov
2001

Poor Sick Marcus

Happy Thanksgiving!


Hope everybody had a very happy Thanksgiving. Ours got off to a rocky start, but turned out alright in the end.

We went to bed after 11 p.m. last night and I already knew it would be a short night since I had to get up by 6 to start pies and get the turkey ready to start roasting by 9. Marcus was feeling a bit dizzy before we went to sleep, but we thought maybe it was because he hadn't eaten since lunch. Ursa, our Malamute, woke me up about 1:15 a.m. She was all upset. Marcus was in the bathroom, groaning. I yelled to see if he was ok, but he wasn't. He didn't remember why he had gone into the bathroom, but he ended up passing out and fell to the floor. He thinks he hit his head. He wasn't sure how long he was laying there, but my yelling woke him up and he was freezing. I put as many clothes as I could find on him to warm him up. When I got up at 5:30, he was still delirious and was drifting in and out of sleep. I finally got him to take some NyQuil around 7. You know he's feeling really bad if he takes any kind of medication. He got up a few hours later and felt a little better. I think the poor thing had a touch of the flu. By the time I had dinner ready at 4, he felt good enough to eat a little something. Our friend Dave and my Dad joined us for dinner. My turkey came out really good, if I do say so myself.

Thanksgiving Feast 2001

Dad eating Thanksgiving FeastMarcus resting after food

Dave enjoying Thanksgiving FeastMarcus watching Survivor