Writing back

Here it is another week. I've been using my laptop pretty much constantly. I figured out the CPU in the laptop has a feature SSE3 and there's a certain thing I can do with a processor of this type. So I have spent about two weeks trying to do this. I'm to paranoid to say what exactly I am refering to. But it has been a fairly fun two weeks trying to get it to work. That SSE3 thing is pretty big clue. If you get it though you're a weirdo geek. Booo. Geeeeek. Boo.

Almost got it to work once, but not quite. And now the HDD I've been using has died. So I will probably stop trying and move on to some other project. Like put a tiny TV card into my latest PC "mod" called LockboxPC.

That I finished several months ago. October I think. Then I decided I was building my aunt and uncle a new PC as theirs still had Windows 98 on it and was extremely slow. Of course they hadn't actually re-installed the OS in all the years since 1998. So that pretty well explained why the slowness.

It was (and is) an 80 gig HDD. I put Win2k Pro on it for them. And bought them a new DVD burner with "DL support" though the usefullness of it seems less than obvious: the media is still extremely expensive. I'm talking $20+ for like 5 discs. I get about 50 regulard DVDRs for that price. Actually 50 regular DVDRs usually goes for around $14.50 at Fry's. So ya, DLs are expensive.

I thought I had everything worked out, contigencies prepared upon, etc. I put on all the standard software for them. You know: anti-virus (AVG free, of course), firewall despite merely dial-up (kerio 2 of course), and DVD movie player and burner software. What I didn't have was a sound card. I really though I had a couple hundred extra sound cards laying around. But no. Just one and it was ISA. The PC I trickle-downed to them was an inbetween generation that did not include ISA slots but also did not come with a mobo built-in sound card. And of course thier existing printer didn't have any drivers for anything other than Windows 95.

The PC was supposed to be a Christmas present to them. As in free. A gift. From me. But they didn't feel like looking at that way. So they paid me for it. In addition to that they went out and purchased a cheap $15 sound card and a new printer. I think they needed a new printer anyway.

So I thought I had everything all working for them. I even gave them a USB hub since this PC only had two USB ports. But then I get a call the PC freezes when the DVD player software tries to play a movie. So I go down there, only about 25 minute drive, and take a look: yep movies not playing. Locks up the whole PC. I must have worked on it for about 5 hours straight. Got as far as audio-only once but that's about it.

So I'm not sure this was a very good present for them frankly. I mean new Dells are what? $400? And they come with XP home and might actually play DVD movies. I mean sure the support isn't always great.

My job on the other hand I think I'm getting better at. I'm scheduled to "expire" as I like to say on January 31st. That leaves me with about a week. So how motivated should I be really? But oddly enough I am kind of motivated. I've been closing tickets and imaging PCs like nobody's business. It's so nice to work with PCs hands-on and go to different places, see different people. Much nicer than say...sitting in a cubicle talking on the phone for eight hours a day infinitum. Meh.

Yes, I don't actually "mind" my job. I don't mind being there I mean. I mean sure sometimes I wish I could be at home working on one of my projects or writing or whatever. Especially when there's no way to do any more work the rest of the day but technically I should be there another 90 minutes. That's just boring.

Of course I have little reason to be motivated. With a week left there's few concequences for a lack of effort. No matter how many cases I close or people I troubleshoot I apparently won't be exteneded or hired or whatever. Such is life I guess. Since, as far as I can tell, no matter how I do I won't be there past a week why should I put a lot of effort into it? I don't know. Because I'm finally doing a lot, I guess. And that's so nice, sometimes. To do a lot in a day. Feeling I accomplished something. Is that crazy?

So I thought I had my next job all lined up. But it fell through. So then I sent my resume in response to another offer. And I never got a response. Not even so much as a rejection. The nerve.

In game news I bought this game called Painkiller. The plot, if you can call it that, is pretty dumb. You run around with a crossbow that shoots steaks. The kind used to kill vampires and zombies. Than you kill zombies. Lots of zombies. And some other creatures as well. This game could just as easily be a demo for "rag doll" physics frankly. Something to demonstrate different ways the technology could be used. It's kind of fun but can get tedious after a while. And I'm saying that I think less than half way through the game. Not sure I'll finish it.

Now I stopped WoW last November 1st or so for that attempt at a book. And haven't gone back. Haven't canceled the subscription...but haven't played it again. Doesn't seem logical to me either. But what are ya gonna do? I haven't played Guild Wars in months either. That's only two $50 games I'm not playing now. Painkiller luckily I only paid $10 for it in a jewel case at CompUSA. At least Guild Wars doesn't have a monthly fee.  ¶ 11:31 AM 0 Comments

 

Spaced

Lets see I haven't written in this in five days. So before this post I glanced over the last one and ready some things I don't even remember writing. Ya, that's a little wierd. Especially that comment about Office Space since on a whim I just went and purchased the "special edition" tonight. I was looking forward to hearing a DVD audio commentary from someone related to the production. But no. No commentary. Fun little documentary with some other stuff. But no commentary. Not even for the deleted scenes. What's the deal with that? I'm very disapointed.  ¶ 7:54 PM 0 Comments

 

"Long Break"

Wow, it's been a while. I mean a long while. I can't believe it's been months since I've seen Office Space. Oh and I don't write things start to happen to me. Psychologically. Bad things. So here I am. Writing.

What have I done since last I chose to write in the particular blog? Well some stuff. It's not all related to Christmas either.

For instance I wrote a book. Ok it wasn't really a book, just a long semi-sensical story. Not that much of a story really though. Don't stories have to make sense and seem like, uh, stories? Anyway that was November. On a web site called "National Novel Writing Month". It was kind of fun. The goal was to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I only wrote 35,000 or so words. Still, that's not so bad, right? I haven't even written a story period in like 12 years. Or read that many novels for that matter. So to write 35k worth of story at all was pretty big, never mind in 30 days. Is it really necessary to defend 35k in 30 days? Feels like it. All the cool kids did the 50k. Or at least reach the 40s and had a story half worth reading.

Ya, that's all I did during November. No WoW, or Guild Wars or...well no PC games at all really.

On other fronts I finally got a new job. I don't remember if I mentioned that in my last entries and don't feel like looking. So I won't. I work for a famous-name defense contractor. You probably haven't heard of it unless you're really into defense contractors. So not that famous then. I like it largely because I'm not sitting in a cubicle on the phone for 8 hours a day talking to idiots and slowly losing my sanity. Instead I'm out, walking around, talking to different people, installing PCs...I mean I get tired of it sometimes but the day still goes by fast. That kind of working I don't mind.

I got this job in late October, scheduled to end December 22nd (something like that) but due to various minor details the main IS guy decided to keep me along with the other temp guy until the end of January. But I will probably be leaving before the end of the contract. I have another job offer some place else. And the contractor or whatever you want to call them seems confident it's a foregone conclusion. Optimistic perhaps? I don't know.

This new job is not for a defense contractor, oh no. It's for a government agency. A government agency? What the hell is wrong with me? You don't work for a government agency in California! Ba'ah. At least it's looking to be a six-month contract. None of this month-to-month crap.

Ya, a defense contractor. From what little I have seen it has a disturbing lack of security for a defense contractor. Lets just say it's a bit less than organized, even for a normal company with an expectation of a clichéd sort of Dilbert environment of management totally and completely lacking in any and all logic. This case is a little rediculous though. No, I don't think I'll go into details. Not today anyway.  ¶ 8:26 PM 0 Comments